Doctor Dal's New Life

New BLOG link click on this title

2011-04-12T10:52:00.000+07:00

Despite the fact that I have found a workaround and can now post images here by going to the Edit HTML function, it is rather tedious...

And anyway, after more than 2 years it is hardly my new life anymore!

To access the new blog site click on the title of this post or:-

CLICK HERE

2011-03-28T12:20:00.000+07:00

Photo Upload:Random

2011-03-28T10:45:00.000+07:00

It makes no sense at all- some days the import of photos works and other days, nothing!

Wed: New Canon Powershot A2200

2011-03-23T18:46:00.011+07:00

Click here to view album

Canon Camera 7yr Itch

Photo upload for Blogger has crapped out again... I thought it was a Mac Snow Leopard problem but its not working on my Windows machine either... Bugger.

Anyway, the shots are in the album and I am getting very bored with this problem as I really like to include photos in my blog... and I tried tumblr.com, the "micro blog site" but even that's down right now.

From Canon Camera 7yr Itch

Anyway, as you will see from the album cover I have a new camera. My Sony Cybershot did a great job for a long time (7 years I think) but now it has a problem, looks like moisture got inside and has damaged the view plate. If you look closely you can see what seem like grease spots when I take a shot of clear sky or plane flat colours... annoying. I put up with it for a while and then it ruined what would have been rather special shots. So enough of that.

But Mr Sony won't be wasted. Kaan can have him, and then he will pass his one on down to a nephew, and so it goes.

Soundtrack: Etta James screaming "Lover Man, where can you be?"

The Venture
Never let it be said that I am one to shrink from a challenge, so here's the news of a secret project: Kaan's Restaurant. It has to be a bit of a secret because I KNOW that my mate David of West restaurant fame, and my dear friend Lawrence back in Sydney will both tell me I am crazy, but I don't think it's so mad at all. It won't cost much to set up, just a few thousand dollars, and we found a great location today.

It's a place right in the middle of the buzz just south of CMU, a place where thousands of students go to eat and wander about each evening. Location has got to be the key, and students are a big market- and a lot of them have money to spend, especially on food.

So we shall see how it goes but I think this one will be a real goer.

From Canon Camera 7yr Itch

This is the fisheye lense effect done in camera-

a lense setting for what possible purpose I do not know.

Meantime of course there is the study to keep up with, and I am doing at least a few hours every day, sometimes as many as eight full hours, and of course, on the eve of a submission it is an all-day and late into the evening review... I am now writing about six drafts for each assignment- a lot more than I used to. Of course it remains to be seen if all this extra effort will be appreciated; in the past it was often the ones dashed off in one go over a couple of days that got the high distinctions while those I toiled over for weeks scraped in with a credit, not a good sign. Anyway, we shall see.

It is with a little tear in my eye that I see my Sony Cybershot pass away. She went with me everywhere, crawled the bars of Pattaya, the beaches of Koh Samui, the Burmese mountains, the many rice fields of Lanna, not to mention Tonga, Vanuatu, Africa, Singapore and the Philippines. She was a loyal workhorse of the best order.

From Canon Camera 7yr Itch

Vale! Ms Cyberre!

With the acquisition of this new photographic marvel you can expect some newly fabulous images to enjoy, when I get a chance to escape my desk!

Thanks for dropping by on this rather warm evening, but not hot enough for the aircon- that was this afternoon- See ya!

908 Policy and Planning Assignment #1

2011-03-21T17:36:00.000+07:00

5:20pm Monday and I feel like a blossom; MAppling908 Ass1 completed and sent off and even more have when I realised I have 16 days, not 13, till my next two assignments are due- like getting 3 days extra in your life for free!

The last two days have been a bit warm, back in the 30s after a week of chilly rain, and the cold water is coming hot out of the tap by midday but luckily the apartment remains comfortable, no aircon yet just a fan and the door open to catch the occasion zephyr.

So that means the pool should have lost its chill and its time to go for a splash, and then a walk around in the evening cool, and tonight to take it easy for an early night.

Tomorrow will be a morning of brainstorming and mind maps, followed by the first research phase. These two assignments are worth 40% and 30% each so that's a large chunk of each subject.

At the same time I am distracting myself a little by learning the latest version of iMovie. No choice really as the new system Snow Leopard doesn't like the old version... ah, so it goes. So you can expect some more movies from me before too long.

Did I mention the pool? I applaud myself for getting a condo with a fabulous view and a pool that you can swim in 9 months of the year. At least I got some things right.

Thanks for dropping by.

Roll out the essays!

2011-03-20T13:06:00.001+07:00

And let's have an essay of fun!

So on Friday I sent off my first assignment (English for Academic Purposes/EAP) for semester 2 of the Master's... and now 3 days to go for delivery of the next one- Language Policy and Planning.

The first one drove me a bit crazy. It's the first time since 1973 and 8 years of study along the way and it's the first time I have studied full time. It is a bit of a luxury but a good one.

But at the same time it means that I am putting a lot of effort in this, a lot more than I would have if I had been working as well. I get totally excited following some research thread, get a whole new angle on something, and have to sit down and rewrite my essay again... I am getting to four or five drafts now.

And frankly the policy and planning subject is a bit weird to me. I want to understand how to make it work, how to design policies and methods of implementation that really work properly, but of course there don't seem to be too many examples of that.

That's my way of thinking- how to make it better, how to get the best result possible... reality is that it is always a compromise between warring parties that ends up in a bit of a mish mash. Still, there must be an effective language education system somewhere in the world, mustn't there?

3 days for my case study of Namibia- a disaster. They announced English as the national language in 1990 and now maybe 7% can speak it, while most of the rest still speak Afrikaans, the language of their previous colonial masters (who still hold the wheels of power).

Then 13 days to a double barrel event- another for EAP and the first for Organisational Communication, which again I thought would be about the best practice in running an organisation. Instead it seems to be about reading Mission Statements and such, and comparing them to reality- for what?

Is this the reason that you don't get the low down on your subject until you start? It's like Buy before you Try.

So anyway, it's OK. I never thought it was going be all Fun in the Sun but sadly my optimistic nature does take me in that direction all the time.

OK, so shoot me!
________________________

My Big Night Out (A more of less typical Saturday night)

So Saturday was all about putting thoughts on paper for the Namibia case study and by 6:30pm, after 8-9 solid hours the first draft is done. I am just about to print it out when David rings: Where are you? When are you coming?

This means he has no customers and he's bored. So I print out the draft and head for West where David tells me he will actually sit down and have dinner with me (something which NEVER happens- as you will see...)

So I get there and true enough we do get to have a beer and a fag and eat our soup, and then panic ensues as 8 guests have arrived all at once, so of course David has to go to the kitchen and get things in order... (See?)

Dinner last night (vegetable soup with fresh bread, fish with lime sauce & mashed potato, rum baba with a dollop of whipped cream- Yum! at West, and a bottle of South African St Clair red wine for 280B BYO) was served with a large helping of Dominique's regular rant. (He came and joined me while David was in the kitchen, which of course annoyed David, but what am I supposed to do?)

Dominique is determined to convince me that any optimism I have about people or business in Thailand will be crushed by greed, corruption and endemic laziness.

He runs a bakery here, has a Thai wife and has no end of horror stories. He has been here more than 10 years. I ask him why he stays; he has a business, this is his home... and most days he's up at dawn, bakes all day doing most things by hand, and then of an evening travels around town with a big tin basket hawking his wares- which I am guessing are the days leftovers.

Seems like a gruelling way to live if you ask me.

Anyway, it was hardly news. I have been meeting Dominique at West by accident about once a week for almost a year, and each time he tells me another version of Terrible Thailand. Like that old magazine Ripley's Believe it or not?, Thailand, You Wouldn't Believe It But... ! is the regular pastime of expats here. Frankly I am bit tired of it. There really are a lot of wonderful and fun things that happen here, and I would be a lot happier if people could talk about them!

(Maybe I need to find some optimists to share my time with...)

After dinner, I popped over to the Soho bar, a 5 minute walk from David's restaurant, and had a few drinks. It was empty when I arrived at 10:30pm but then the second shift arrived and I had an amusing chat with Ken, a rather tall black Canadian guy here for his second time and having fun.

I chewed his ear with stories about Australia and New Zealand: language quirks, weather, population, animals. I have become a walking National Geographic.

And he told some about Canada and his travels, when I gave him a moment.

By now it's 12:30am and the bar has closed, and Kaan with his wonderful timing turns up wanting a drink (no deal, Scott runs his bar strictly to the regulations to save on bribes and hassle), and so off we go looking around, but it's a doomed crusade as the party at Prasertland just wound up and all the bars are full as googs, and there's actually a traffic jam of people pouring out of Prasertland looking for another place to party! and so we just have to go home.

And even though it's after 1am already, and the rule is that you stop selling alcohol after 12, the shop downstairs quietly sells us some beers anyway. So there's a nice thing right there that you wouldn't get in Australia.

By this time I'm actually pretty tired and dozing off but somehow my second wind arrives and we get to have a chat- about all the things couples need to chat about... managing life, the uncertain future, making things better, why we get on each other's nerves...

And then at some ungodly hour, the night comes to an end.

Total cost: about 1,000B ($33) or 3.5hrs work.
_____________________________

It's lunchtime Sunday now. It's warm and sunny which is a pleasant relief after last week when we had several days of wind, rain and cold down to around 12 degrees in the day time. But today is balmy, bright blue sky and a clear view from my window through clear skies to the mountains in the distance.

You don't often get that in a town set in a valley with a fair amount of pollution. Most days the mountains are lost in the smokey haze.

And it's Sunday so I am going to take it easy, and then throw myself into the study tomorrow. Maybe we'll go somewhere for lunch.

Monk making Mar 2011

Kaan lent my little red video camera to a friend who used it to take stills of a monk making ceremony.

I've never seen one of these. If you look at the photos you will notice that people take turns cutting off his hair, and he just sits there quietly, and alone, until it's all gone, and then he gets the white robe.

To have a child become a monk is believed to be very good merit-making for the family and especially the parents. Merit making is basically storing up good luck either for this life or the hereafter, which has become a bit confusing, as here they have Buddhist Heaven and Hell, and then somehow, reincarnation after that... How did that happen?

You will also notice that it's quite a crowd gathered to watch this haircutting transformation, so it seems to be a grand occasion... I am sure it took a LONG time and that people mostly just sat around looking, something that I am not good at doing; doing nothing that is.

I apologise for the quality of the pics- that little video camera was never much good for stills.
_________

Thanks for dropping by... let's chat again after the Namibia project is done.

Difficult, impossible... normal.

2011-03-15T11:05:00.002+07:00

It's Tuesday morning and it's quite cool and cloudy. It's been raining and the cloud cover keeps the temperatures in the mid 20s- should be good study weather. But nothing is perfect.

This is the first time since 1973 that I am devoting myself to study rather than working at the same time and juggling stuff around. Of course there are still other things to deal with like renting the apartments, paying bills and such, but the main task for these three months is to complete the master of linguistics.

However it is not so easy for me to concentrate on just one project. For one thing, I find that I can only really concentrate for about six hours during the day, and then I need a break. Maybe my brain at 56 just isn't as durable as it used to be.

For another, once the study is done for the day I have too much time for my brain to wander aimlessly through all those annoying life questions about the past and the future, questioning my choices, wondering where I will go next, reassessing possible strategies for the life ahead. Basically asking that age old question of what is possible, how good can it get? And how bad. And of course realising that the questions will not be answered for a while.

I know I look a bit insane in this picture of me and Kaan on the way back from Burma, but then again, I am a bit crazy really.

On top of that an odd thing happened yesterday evening as I completed my analysis of my latest research; my teaching method for academic English lacks a research foundation. I use an approach developed in the 80s in Australia (of all places!) called the Genre Approach, or something like that, whereby we teach students how different texts and presentations are assembled so they can make their own. It is too complicated explain in detail here but the point is that I have been applying this for over ten years and realised yesterday that no-one has ever done a serious longitudinal study to verify its value.

There was a study done at UNSW in the late 90s by a PhD student that I read in 2000-2001, but he wasn't an educationist or a linguist. He was some weird sub-branch of service industry analysis (I think) and frankly there's almost no chance I will ever find it again.

Interruption...

So I just had a little light bulb moment- why not do a Google search using EAP "longitudinal" and see what comes up? Sure enough, not a lot. A worldwide search comes up with three research reports, not a lot for a method that has been in use for more than 20 years! And yet not surprising.

Education research seems to have been in the 19th Century Armchair Philosopher category for some time. Instead of testing ideas, which is bit difficult since we need to actually test what people are doing, the trend seems to be to just, well, think about them... If teachers were engineers using this technique a lot of structures would probably fall down.

So now I have three more articles to read and maybe there will be some useful data but really, just three studies in 20 years? Not a lot. And then of course there will be a further rewrite of my own research paper. I don't even know what version I am up to- at least number 6.

See that's the problem with devoting myself to study; my brain just runs away with itself trying to make ideas cohere and locate what's missing in the puzzle, and that can go on forever. When you are working at the same time you have to limit the time for your study projects, you throw yourself into the time available, and then you finish on deadline, and move on.

What I do now I start the research projects as early as possible and devote all the time I can manage. This is a very different experience, and quite draining in a way that working is not. It is also a bit lonely.

Sometimes as a result of being here, of that sense of isolation that comes from being in a foreign country and now with the added isolation of studying alone in my room, it is easy to be self-indulgent, to do the "Woe is me!" scenario, the "What am I doing here?" scenario, and then I remember these monks I saw in Burma just a few days ago.

There they are in their robes, in a country controlled by a military junta that allows very little personal freedom, and certainly no guarantee of it, poor and with very few prospects of escape, and I realise that they would see me as crazy because I have so much more than them, and so many more opportunities...

So I guess I'll just get on with it now, read those three articles, see if I can find the missing pieces to the puzzle and hopefully finish writing this, my first essay for the semester, before the end of the day.

The student life is a very very odd life indeed.
__________________________________________

Postscript: Breaking News
Well the good thing is that I was right. I just found a journal article that echoes my own concerns about the lack of empirical evidence but one that also summarise the small number of empirical studies done to date (2006) by Jessica Tardy. So it was not a red herring and I was not losing my mind.

What disturbs me about this is that the reading list for the subject includes none of these empirical studies. Isn't the effectiveness of EAP a rather important element when studying EAP?

Maybe not.

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)

2011-03-10T09:24:00.000+07:00

Liam Aiken, one of the unfortunate children

Most of the time the movies on TrueMoves satellite TV are rubbish, and then by accident they show something decent like Lemony Snicket's masterpiece. (Click HERE for Rotten Tomatoes take or on this blogs title.)

Honestly I think this is Jim Carrey's best movie ever. The fact that he actually manages to NOT be Jim Carrey is probably the point here. Not to mention Merryl Streep and Jimmy Connolly.

Great cast, wonderful story, fabulous images and some hilarious characters come together to make this a real gem. And most amazing of all, the final credits are a wonderful work of artistic animation all in their own right.

Jim Carrey being truly evil.

So that was my thrill of the evening, with a dessert of The West Wing. I got 42 discs from Burma, the whole series, so that's going to be my evening reward after a hard days study.
___________
On other news?

Yesterday I went to CMU, signed the final result papers, collected my pay and in so doing, ended my work for the semester meaning that I don't need to go back till May 10 when the visa process begins again.

I was out for a bit more than an hour, and came home dripping wet and exhausted- making it impossible to concentrate on anything for the rest of the day. Take note: go out in weather only after doing the key mental work of the day. The tropical hot season and any kind of work are antipathetic.

Last night was a little bit funny. We (Kaan and I) got new phones in Burma, some sort of Nokia "brand" fake but the manual was for a different phone so we couldn't work out how to open them. On top of which several functions wouldn't work without an added memory card. So last night off to Kad Suan Kaew to the phone experts who opened the phones and put 4gig cards in each (350B each) taking the total cost (1,600/1,900) to around 2,100 baht ($63) each, a small fortune in the Thai schemata but had to do something as my new 2nd hand one is buggered. Now they both work like a dream, though for some reason Kaan's has a different operating system from mine!

Nokia N98i with "32GB memory" on the back cover when in fact it had none at all! And an "8 megapixel" camera which I am sure is not true. Ah, never mind, it works!

I woke up at 7:30am today, had some coffee and somehow it is 9:17 already and all I've done is read the news and write this. It will be 10am before I am on deck for functional action, and that's OK, but not perfect.

I need to develop a routine just as Stephen and Virginia Woolf would do each day; mornings for breakfast and writing, then lunch, the afternoons for readings and a walk, and finally of an evening, dinner and a little bit of socialising. And they did that 48 weeks of the year, only stopping for a 4 week holiday once a year... or so I read somewhere. But that doesn't really make sense as Stephen was a travel writer, so he must have done more travelling than that!

Oh, and speaking of travelling, there are some photos of the recent trip on picasa (Click HERE) but I really have very little to say about the trip. Four days of driving all directions but south looking at the sights, most of which I had seen a few times before, was a change of scene from my usual circuit but nothing surprising happened really. Temples, markets, quirky artist centres, good restaurants (Wiwat is a genius in finding them) and lots of "normal" Thailand- you really can't be a tourist after more than two years in a place. Still, it was a pleasant change.

And now, the day is sticky already, but take a shower anyway, turn on the aircon and get to work.

See you in the spring.

Trip to Mae Sai & Burma

2011-03-09T12:23:00.002+07:00

Trip to Mae Sai Mar 2012

This is the last two of four days of driving around the area. Mae Sae is 4 hours away on the border with Burma (Myanmar). You walk across and there's a market for dodgy products, very cheap. Got a new "Nokia" phone for Kaan and me, just 1,900B... cheap as...

And now, back in Chiang Mai to finish checking results at CMU, and then total immersion in my master's studies.

Hmmm.

Nice to see you here.

Notes on Mae Rim trip Mar 5

2011-03-06T07:35:00.003+07:00

Yesterday was a long day: silk, lacquer & umbrella factories, silver shops, orchid farm, lunch on a lake and afternoon tea at the Four Seasons Resort with a guided tour of the spa and the grounds in a little golf cart.

This resort is an extraordinary, luxurious retreat plush with lush green and even a lake. I forgot to ask how much it costs... but given that a massage is more than 7,000 baht (about $210), I am guessing it is a tad beyond my wallet strength. Still, it was delightful to have a cup of coffee ($6) on the terrace and pretend.

Today we continue the driving about with a trip up the mountain to the Summer Palace for some roses, a visit to Wat Prathat Doi Suthep on top of the mountain (my fourth or fifth visit) and then down to Macro's new store and Baan Tawai for the super-dooper touristic shopping experience.

The tourist numbers are still down. Yesterday in all the driving about we met only a couple of dozen other tourists all day. Dinner at West last night at least David had a few guests, so it's not all bad. But as David said, it's March and with the mercury hitting 38 by lunch today and 40 for tomorrow, it is a bit warm.

Thanks for dropping by.


Four Seasons Resort, Mae Rim

Mae Rim Sat 5 Mar 2011

2011-03-06T06:32:00.001+07:00

5 March 2011 Orchids, Mae Rim

La Nausée, Sartre's Annoyance

2011-03-02T09:45:00.002+07:00

So now I know- the problem with the picture upload is in my NEW MacBook- NOT in Blogger... time to go visit the MacZone shop to see what they can do.

Today I feel a bit like the anti-hero of Sartre's existential novel; wandering a strange city, not really understanding what these people are doing, like him spending a lot of my time reading and writing alone, and wondering what I could do to connect to these strangers.

I am even wondering what "connection" is.

With the retired expats the answer is simple; listen to their complaints about living here and how much sex they are getting, plus a much larger serving of what they did before they got here. With the less loquacious, ask them how they are, what they have been doing and be prepared for the common response: "Oh nothing really". What can you do with that?

With my work colleagues it is just as weird.

I think most of my fellow expat (farang) teachers are retired secret agents. They are so tight-lipped about themselves, their lives and what they are doing you would think that the fate of the planet hung in the balance. Partly it is them trying to keep their sources of income a secret, lest someone take it away from them, and also because they are all having to stretch the limits of legality to survive. Paranoia is a type of necessity I guess.

With my fellow Thai teachers I am sure it is a combination of culture shock and just plain confusion.

Australians are far too egalitarian to fit easily into the Thai hierarchy and constantly fail to kowtow as expected- to middle class Thais in general (because we are guests in their country), elders, supervisors, monks, politician and rich people. It is a long list. Fortunately I am old enough to garner some social altitude, so my bluff is to act older... with some success. Not dying my hair anymore has, I am sure, made a difference.

Perhaps my worst gaff came about recently as I decided to treat the Thai teachers as colleagues rather than joke my way along (the fun/sanuk imperative does work but it gets a bit tedious after two years). This has I am sure led to more upset; given that native speakers have trouble understanding my thought processes this is hardly surprising. But I will persist.

If nothing else it will give me the satisfaction of knowing I did my best to improve the courses and the student experience.

9:45am. Off to see Mr K at CMU to deliver my visa documents so I can get a new work permit (June 2011-May 31 2012), and then off to Immigration for a re-entry visa, and Airport Plaza in the hope of getting some XXL underpants (not easy, I've been looking for months!).

And then of course, back home for a shower (only 36 today), a nap to recover from the heat exhaustion and some uni study.

See you next time.

Tuesday 7:45am. Clearing the Decks

2011-03-01T08:25:00.001+07:00

Monday was the "deadline" but as Charlie warned me on Sunday night, such deadlines in Thailand are a bit rubbery. So anyway I took my some of my stuff in to CMU yesterday and of course it was:

sorry, wrong format, could you change that?
mm, too small, could you make the font larger?
sorry, we need another layout of that one
oops, you made a mistake here, can you fix that?

Not that it matters and only a Western person would expect that there might be ONE format and ONE system that ALL the subjects followed, but no, each one wants something a little bit different and then there are the emails with all those little extra ideas that people come up with... at the last minute.

And I can't fix things at the work computers because they all use Thai operating systems and versions of software that I have NEVER seen before...

So anyway, over the next three days I need to complete a few things:

take back some more bundles of papers to CMU (to go in various places depending in which course they came from, of course!)
finalise the soft and hard copies of results (to go in various places depending in which course they came from, of course!)
visit Khun Krith to find out what size photo he wants for my new visa application (for the next work visa at CMU)
visit Immigration to get a re-entry visa so I can go to Burma with Angela after she arrives on Friday

AND get my head around what's happening with my master's course-

and where are those missing readings?
and why isn't the website working properly?
and why isn't the reading list available in the library website for one of my courses?
and what is the first assignment again?

Ah, that's right!

"Critical Response to something or other"

for English for Academic Purposes on 11 March for 20%

__________________________

I have been toiling away for days and days to get the marking done, and there really was a LOT of it. With 240 students you have to factor in exam papers, project files and various last minute writing tests and quizzes and we are up to around 500 pieces... and then all the data input, and then the reconfiguring of the data to fit the various demands of each subject (yep, more than one spreadsheet per class, arranged in different ways).

Given that we only got the exam answer sheets on Wednesday, and it takes a few hours to mark each class, it is a big task in just a few days. Most people are doing other jobs at the same time so god knows how they do it.

Anyway, I will be happy once it is finished, handed in, stored and out of the way- today I hope!

_____________________

Then I will have until Friday to get the immigration stuff handled and get my study materials in order for my master's study. The immigration stuff will be fairly easy. The study stuff maybe not.

Study, The Master of Applied Linguistics (TESOL)

This semester I am tackling two new subject areas, one about planning & policy (government/organisational stuff) and another about organisational communication (corporate management). These are the two components of the degree that entail the management angle which I am including for my segue into an executive future, again (!?).

I have done some of the readings for these courses and am feeling a bit uneasy. I look at this stuff and realise that a lot of the time I just don't get it- what are they trying to say? Where are the research criteria? What do these peculiar terms mean? I know it is necessary but I am horrified to realise that I am fast becoming one of those people who speak in the gibberish of corporations and government... but then again, I DID ask for it.

Friday, Escape to the Hills!

I may not be writing here for a bit. On Friday Angela arrives and for the following 5 days we will be driving around with Wiwat, seeing the sights and relaxing beside cool mountain streams, scanning the wild mountain vistas, and shopping in wild mountain villages... with a trip to Burma for, what else? shopping of course.

Most of that will be day trips returning home of an evening, though one night we'll be staying at the Wiang Inn in Chiang Rai. The last time I stayed there was around 1996 during a survey tour for a conference and while Kaan and I did stay in Chiang Rai on last year's trip, it was in a rather dowdy Thai-style (cheap) hotel that made me feel like I was in a filme noire with Thai subtitles, like I was Phillip Marlowe in The Big Sleep - not again.

I am just too old for dowdy hotels and while 2,400 baht ($75) has become a LOT of money in my Thai mind, it will be worth it for an evening of millionaire fantasy.

Anyway, 8:27am. Time to shower and potter off into the heat. We are expecting 37 degrees today (and it's still winter?) so it will be a good idea to get it out of the way before the midday sun and the required Mad Dogs and Englishmen start marauding about...

Thanks for dropping by.

Michael Jackson's Nose is Alive!

2011-02-20T10:11:00.000+07:00

I just watched Piers Morgan's CNN interview with Janet Jackson and NO-ONE can tell me that's her nose. I know that nose. I saw it on Michael Jackson before he went to heaven.

I just got back from two days up in the mountains, a mixed blessing. The drive up and back is a pleasant experience. The views of the fields and the mountains are lovely and relaxing. Only a few times did we miss accidents by a few centimeters, so not too disturbing.

Once we arrived at Kaan's house there was a sudden flurry of activity. K had some "friends" coming to visit- not friends really but people who drank at his workplace, and being unable to do so on the Buddha Day, had invited themselves to do so at his house in the mountains. As a result the rest of the day, and the night were devoted to their drinking, card games and loud music. Why? By right of the fact that they have a lot of money, a big car and lord knows what else.

The telling moment came when they decided they didn't want to return to their hotel and then W was told he could sleep in his car- despite the fact that he had actually built the house, from scratch some years ago, for free. The fact that he had been promised a bedroom, had driven down from the mountains to fetch us back again- seven hours of driving, or all the rest.

Obviously, you are as important as your wallet, and as soon as a bigger wallet comes along, goodbye!

Venality is universal after all.

So what is the point of such a trip? Several hours driving up, and the same going back, a night of mediocre food and loud unintelligible music, stilted conversations and allergic reactions to jungle flowers, and you have to wonder if I am crazy or not... but it is a change of scene after months of cycling through my few locations, and just for that, it is worth the effort.

_______________

Getting back yesterday, feeling a bit drained, for no reason at all I trawled through some Justin Bieber interviews. I would have only looked at two, but then I got intrigued. Just how much coaching was going into this kid's success?

It didn't take long to find out. Just a few interviews and you had heard all the stories recited with the same disingenuous smile, the same apparent spontaneity.

This Bieber kid is a media wunderkind. And his coaches are the best- except for one small problem; they need to write some more material, since over the course of a year, probably doing the same tour, Justin said the same things again and again, with almost no variation. Nonetheless, the way he uses his repertoire to adlib (?) replies to various questions is a virtuoso performance.

____________>>> The Zeitgeist?

The only weird moment- Michael Jackson is one of his idols, luckily Prince comes in at Number 2.

On one of the videos, just before going to the States, he and his mum are on a Christian TV channel in Canada and the interviewer concludes with a touching summary:

"And so you see, God can do anything!"

I did not know that.

___________

I REALLY must stop this and go mark some exam papers!

Tomorrow is Macha Bucha Day

2011-02-17T20:38:00.000+07:00

Thursday, 17 Feb 2011

7pm. Woke from a two hour nap as so often happens to me these days. Had been watching the latest House download on my Mac. Have you noticed how the series has become more family-oriented (and sex-oriented for that matter) since Hugh Laurie became the executive producer?

8pm. Now at that odd crossroads and no, I won't go out to eat. Instead a trip to the bottle shop 50m up the road to get some wine for tonight and tomorrow as they will be closed for the MB Day- some sort of Buddhist holiday.

Tomorrow William drives down and then drives us back to Chiang Dao, and then Baan Mai Malaki to visit Kaan's Mum, and the village for two days. Kaan's plan is that William will sleep in Mum's bed and she will sleep at the sister's house down the road. I am dubious but that's normal for plans here.

It will be nice to get out of town for two days and gaze at the jungle for a while.

Then back on Saturday, lots of marking on Sunday, and then exams on Monday... and then lots of marking again.

Monday is also the first day of term for Macquarie online, and so study for the Master of Applied Linguistics begins again, on the same day! I doubt that I'll do much there on Monday as I'll be supervising exams from 8am till 6:30pm!

And now, off for a walk, and then dinner, a movie (Mother Night)...

___________

Death on the Nile (Movie) 1978
I have a list of the Best Movies of All Time which I take to the DVD shop on Suthep Rd near Ton Payom Market.

Such a long time since I saw this one that I had forgotten that the cast included such greats: Bette Davis as a fabulous curmudgeon, Mia Farrow as the crazed ingenue... and on and on, plus Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot.

Sadly the director (Towering Inferno fame) directed with a rather heavy slather of emotive juices... as one of the actors points out, it is Murder on the Orient Express but wider, as boats tend to be in relation to trains...

Still, it was an amusing diversion for last evening.

Tonight I stray further afield to a piece that only Vonnegut fans would have the stomach for- Mother Night. Rotten Tomatoes notes: The film is a cherished companion piece to Slaughterhouse Five.

Another one for my list.

I know this might seem ridiculous; to be scanning the archives of old movies when I could be out there immersed in the culture of the Exotic East but the fact is that the Exotic East is watching Korean Boy Bands, getting haircuts and clothes to match, and watching Thai movies with huge gobs of gore and a heavy helping of ghosts at every turn, and of course, Soaps populated by extremely white Thai people who seem obsessed with their daily doings to the point of constant hysteria... melodrama and emotional extremes being de rigeur.

And so... bottle shop and a movie will do just fine.

Thanks for dropping by.

Movie: Ladies in Lavender

2011-02-13T14:14:00.000+07:00

Since Friday afternoon my mood has been very like this movie (which I watched again last night); a relaxed saunter through bucolic swoon where nothing important or exciting interrupts the flow, until that young man arrives...

I made a terrible mistake on Friday and made myself attend another LYC function. I had promised and though I was reluctant, I went. I thought it was going to be a party so at least a chance to move around and talk to various people, but then the host moved the event from the Guest House to his restaurant next door, and it was yet another long table banquet and three people to talk to. This kind of trapped company is precisely wrong for a social occasion. It's OK for formal events where you want to trap people in their seats, but when you want people to meet and socialise you should never glue them down.

But what did I expect? This social group seems to have been static and lacking in energy for more than a year, as evidenced by the fact that the volunteer contribution has shrunk to almost non-existent.

So of course Saturday was an empty husk of alcohol flushing from the withered brain and not much else, so watching Ladies in Lavender was perfect, a sort of Death in Venice set in Ireland (I think) with two elderly women caring for a young man who literally washed up on their beach, and of course Judi Dench falls in love with him, to no avail of course. It is in a sense a movie where almost nothing happens, and then at the end, even less occurs. When the highlight of a dramatic movie is a violin solo you know the story is a bit vacuous.

And vacuous seems to be my theme for the weekend, and probably the week. Vacuous as in being a bit active with work, and then not. As in putting a canvass on my easel but never finding the wherewithal to put paint to purpose. Perhaps lazy is the word.

There is a burning question, well not burning but maybe smoldering, and it is wondering where to go from here... It has been smoldering for some time now. And I don't mean the long term, that cat is already out the bag and will either land in Bangkok or abroad. No, I mean what happens when on occasion I stand looking at my door asking myself whether I will exit or remain.

The problem is that the social spaces that I used to enjoy have changed. Whereas before it was possible to wander around them without a plan and bump into amusing people, that is largely no longer the case. As old Bokonon used to say: Your gang done gone away!

This would be alright if some other opportunity was on the horizon but it isn't (in both senses). I sense myself becoming a cranky, crusty curmudgeon and I don't like it.

Anyway, there is no point crying over missing milk. The only solution is to stop mulling and get moving. I will overcome my lassitude and throw myself into the breach, take the bull by its protrusions and render my messy habitation into a clean, mean... I am sure you get the point.

Until next time, when I hope to have more news, or any news really...

Thank you for dropping by.

Career Moves

2011-02-10T16:38:00.000+07:00

Not for the first time, but today I am contemplating my next career move.
And also not for the first time, it is a global consideration.

The great thing about being an English teacher is the chance to work in so many countries around the world, but the hard thing is to get a sense of what it will be like when you get there. In general you can't rely on what you find on the internet; too much of it is generated by people with a vested interest in getting you there.

In the case of Taiwan back in 1999 the rumour was that teachers could make $50,000 a year, and even when I got there I heard this story. But no-one had actually met that person. I reckoned you might make that much if you were teaching face to face for about 60 hours a week, but even the people I met who were teaching those sorts of hours weren't making 50K, more like 30K for 6 days and nights of work!

The exaggerations about Thailand were similar, though not on such a grand scale. The rumour was that you could easily make 30,000 baht a month- about $1,000- and there are such positions here and there. In general that means working in a private high school teaching 22 hours a week with an expected attendance of 40-50hrs per week. This is not an attractive arrangement.

The latest rumour is Korea where $4,000 a month with paid long holidays is part of the game... We shall see. But there again there will be a lot of unknowns. And checking some current ads, the incomes for teachers are more like $1,780- so there's the rumour factor again.

So once again, it is a bit of wait and see. Things may have changed a lot in the next few months...

Tuesday Nights

2011-02-08T18:22:00.001+07:00

Tuesday nights... with each Wednesday off I got that thing I thought I always wanted- a 3 day weekend each week. Of course, the reality is that you get into the rhythm of rising at 6:30am for just two days at a time, and 3 days of the week you sleep in, so your life never has a settled diurnal cycle.

PHOTO UPLOAD IS STILL NOT WORKING. Blogger told me to "clear my cache" to fix the problem- ridiculous is photo and video upload are working fine for my other sites. Ideas anyone?

So I am embedding a Picasa album instead:

Nokia Shots Feb2011

____________

Jeng's Shoes

From Nokia Shots Feb2011

(above from a Picasa Web Album embed file)

Life is so odd sometimes. So I am thinking about where I will teach next and then I meet two people who extol the virtues of teaching in Korea and one of them hands me a card and tells me to get in touch when I am ready!

Of course, that will be four months away so we shall see... a lot can happen in that time.

Right now I am sitting in a chair and a quandary simultaneously. There is a plenitude of choices laid before me, just like my sunset view across town from my far-from-luxury apartment but sadly most of them lack promise. This is mainly due to my trying to avoid yet another tourist and/or retired person conversation, not to mention that other genre, the "I've been here for years and I am still normal" conversation (a variant of the retired version with more complaints about staff, corruption etc).

I had thought CMU would provide some intelligent conversation but it seems that the walls have ears and honesty might not be the best policy. I even accidentally joined a whispered exchange about someone who had been "asked to leave" which was corrected to the "position not extended" euphemism... One has to wonder. There certainly is not a sense of stability or camaraderie.

Anyway, the night closes in and the quandary will be resolved in the latest fashion- dinner at West, chat to David and then a few beers at Soho before staggering home, hopefully after some decent conversation.

And yes, I really am talking to myself here... who else to talk to?

312 Weekender, 56

2011-02-04T19:18:00.001+07:00

Lanna 312 Balcony

It's started again, the afternoon nap. I try to avoid it and during the cooler months of November through March it is usually easier, but right now it is getting to the early thirties by lunchtime. I get home from work, eat something, do my email and by 3pm I start fading.

Unable to do anything useful I do what Thais do, and lie down for a nap. "Just an hour," I tell myself. I set the alarm in all good conscience and when it rang at 5pm, duly turned it off and went back to sleep for another hour. And now it's 7pm and I am having a coffee trying to wake up properly.

I hate being blurry in the early evening, yet the afternoon nap is hard to avoid unless I do something that my body objects too and go to bed early. However that doesn't work very well either, for two reasons. Firstly I have never been an early sleeper (it reminds me of my father going to be at 9pm each night so he could rise at 5am for work), and secondly, you still can't escape the heat of the day. There really is no solution.

312, The Proposed Weekender

Given the odd history of apartment 312 Lanna Nakorn, I might as well make it my weekend artist retreat.

It has been empty of renters for almost two years. At the same time, it has collected 9 months rent from people who paid deposits and future rent, and then never turned up. So it is not as though I will be losing any money. But it is odd.

It is a lovely flat, and big (52sqm), with excellent light. It will be nice to have a place to paint, a balcony to laze upon, and have artistic stuff set up all the time. It is just too much of a mess to have at the Chomdoi home base.

Anyway, we shall see. I won't do it till term is finished and marking done- around the end of Feb.

Yep, it happened again. On Wednesday I turned 56 amid no fanfare, just a bit of dinner with friends and a late night karaoke bar with Kaan. And no, I don't feel much about it at all. And I wasn't shocked or surprised to have the mother of all hangovers the next day (my actual anniversaire). Is expecting hangovers a sign of the wisdom that age provides? Seems a bit odd, but there it is.

So what's the good of getting older? "More experience" was one of my students' idea but that doesn't amount to much if you can't use it.

If anything what I have learned is not to use it, though that is hardly random. At work I bite my lip quite a bit. I can see a lot of things that could be better. This is the result of my 10 years teaching experience, and lots of mistakes along the way. However, to express these ideas would implicitly criticise my superiors in the hierarchy. It might also embarrass them- not a good thing to do in this rather insecure culture. So I bite it most of the time.

On the other hand, there are times when the lubrication of the spirit leads me to open slather and I later realise that I have probably embarrassed someone or five. You might think that doing this with other expats (farang) is OK but it probably isn't.

The expats in this town are an oddly Leave it to Beaver collection of people. They seem to operate in a 1950s mentality that still believes in Love and Marriage that go together like a Horse and Carriage (Oklahoma, the musical my mother used to love, even after 4 divorces), a world where the internet, fMRI research, sociology and semiotics have still not been invented. Mostly just 10 years older than me, did they somehow live in a time warp for a while that jumped them from 1959 to 2011 and missed the intervening years?

I suspect it is more like my auntie Shirley said when she discovered all the study I had done: "Why would you want to learn all that stuff? It just separates you from normal people. Why would you want that?"

Of course, she is right; discussions about how brain development leads us to provide a justified (and often false) version of our existence are not the meat of social flim flam. And it is heresy to tell people that living here is really much the same as any other country town in the world... bad boy.

But I don't care. I would rather know that the ship is sinking than just re-arrange the deck chairs on the Titanic.

So how is 56?

Not that bad really. I know myself well enough to get most of what I want. I am happy most of the time by focusing on the things I enjoy. I have learned to ignore or pay little attention to those things I cannot change.

And I understand that I am that person who really does engage in "life long learning" that you so often hear spouted about, but with very little understanding of what it means.

56 will be a year of achievement (finish the master's degree), a new adventure (looking for a job as Director of Studies or similar), and not jumping before time (I will keep working at CMU until I find that elusive opportunity).

It will also be a year of uncertainty. Where will it all lead? And that's OK. Adventure is good for the soul (whatever that is). Say again?

Adventure stimulates the brain to develop new adaptive networks and delays the onset of senile dementia.

It also adds a sense of aliveness that is rather enjoyable, probably the fight/flight mechanism pouring adrenalin and other hormones into the brain.

So 56 will be a year of new brain networks, stimulus of enjoyable brain chemicals and encounters with new challenges. Doesn't sound all bad, does it?

Thanks for dropping by.

Counting down or up?

2011-01-28T18:15:00.003+07:00

Yeah well, photo upload is nixed again! For the silly photo see tumblr- at least the link seems to be working.

I love and hate this time in the teaching cycle. Approaching the end of term I get a sense of impending loss combined with the dread of the mountains of papers to mark, and at the same time looking forward to taking a break from the humdrum routine of 6:30am predawn risings.

The days are getting hotter, around 31 by lunchtime but I must be adapting because I am just a little damp on the way home. As April turns to May that will be more like early 40s for days on end. Some people will be teaching under the fans at that time... not me, I hope.

Three weeks and just eleven teaching days to go...

I will miss some of my students- the ones who stand out- which oddly enough means the ones who sit at the front (the Goodies) and the ones who try to hide at the back (the Naughties)- and as you see, some things never change no matter what country you are in. So with a class of 35 to 40 students that leaves around 25 students who barely rise above the surface, and probably have very little idea what is going on. But truly, I will miss the Bad Boys at the back just as much as the Goody-Two-Shoes at the front.

___________

As for the real estate game, it looks like Stig has found me a buyer for one of the apartments- at a bit of a discount but not too painful. If that works things will feel a lot easier... and if not, it's still not a disaster.

So here we are again, another weeks goes by and little things progress. Sometimes I find a lingering romance with the good old days of wild ups and downs when I was running my event management business but truly I don't want to return to the mad stress of all that, more of a job for a younger man.

Of course, the current dream to be Director of Studies and run a language school will have its own set of strom and drang, but I am still looking forward to it.

Tonight I am off across the triangular void of Chomdoi to have drinks and food with David and his partner Kamppee. Should be a pleasant change as he is still full of the enthusiasm and excitement for his new country (while I will do my best to show equanimity and bite my lip) and have some relaxing fun.

And then the fun of a relaxing weekend, hey I might even splurge and clean the apartment.

These are the challenges we all go through from time to time, the need to manage the routines of life, waiting for some excitement to show its lovely face, and making the best of each day as it flows along. Some days are fun. Some days are dull. Some days I wake up with a smile on my face feeling great- more of them please!

Thanks for dropping by.

I don't like Oreos but...

2011-01-22T12:32:00.000+07:00

I eat them.

Addictions, or are they just predilections? Let us not sully the debate with perorations, these are obsessions and fixations whichever way you look at it.

First (and probably worst) is the cigarette, a ridiculous habit that devolves to hitting up and seems to entail less and less actual enjoyment, rather just escape from duress. As Yul Brenner would say with his dying breath: Whatever you do, don't smoke! Nicotine is one of the most addictive drugs in the world.

Then booze, dear old Dionysian, Bacchian cabal... but even that loses its attraction. No longer can I go out and hit the piss like a dragon drinking and then wake up fresh the next morning, or the next, or the next... I have become that horror of horrors: the moderate drinker. (Well, moderate for me anyway- a bottle of wine or a couple of big bottles of beer is relaxing but hardly intoxicating.) But don't get too comfortable, from time to time desperation does bring on a bender.

And can food be an addiction? Or just a niggling need? Like Oreos and Cadbury's Milk Chocolate, like ice cream (vanilla and chocolate), like french fries... at least I can get these here. Desires for a decent hamburger, a fish'n'chips are satisfied at David's West restaurant, and only poor shadows in most other places here. Other people must have their daily rice but for me the daily need is the bread, the toast, the butter and the cheese- oh yes, cheese! From time to time my brain flicks a switch and screams for solid dairy intake- not milk or yogurt, no it must be cheese.

Only when you live in a place that is different do you realise what you need or what you might miss.

When I was back in Australia I saw a sausage roll while waiting for a ferry at Circular Quay. I had to have one, with sauce. I was astounded by the SIZE, the greasiness, the flakes that fell like snow, the seagulls coming in for the kill, and the mysterious flavour that I had totally forgotten... what was that taste? Not meat really. And so, I am not missing that now, not right now.

Meat pies are another thing of distant memory. I got them at the Pie Shop in Mascot, again so BIG and so expensive (you could get a 3 course meal in a restaurant for the same price over here!).
_______________

And what about computers? Well that's a different story. I have been addicted to the Mac since I got one in 1985- a little beige box with a tiny black and white screen- and now I am totally addicted. And paying for it.

Last week my Macbook failed again- terminal hard disk failure, and my G5 iMac big screen also went fatally blue about two weeks earlier... death. And I have no choice. I just can't live without all those delicious easy-to-use programs, all that lovely stuff- and all my videos and photos stored in those dedicated programs. But I don't mind too much.

So I got a new one on Thursday and started the painful process of getting the virgin mac up to speed... hours... days later I am still not finished, but I am bored now.

And 34,000 baht poorer- yes they are more expensive here that elsewhere in the world- thank you Mr Mastercard, and Mr Long-Term Debt.

And then my electric jug blew up... Ah the joys!

________

My other addiction used to be TV but the quality of satellite TV here is actually amazingly bad, at least what you get in English is mostly utter rubbish. And at a cost of some 1,600B/month ($57) I am going to cancel it next week. Instead I'll get the 350B ($12.50) limited version supplied from my building. Better than nothing.

And anyway, I am wondering if TV has changed, or just me? It just seems so dull. The news is so transparently just an advertising platform, the programs just recycled rubbish and so ridiculous that flipping from one news source to another you just get the same shite again and again. But maybe that's because I am getting old, and still have some memory left.

One day when my brain is rotting away it will all seem fresh and new again and I can really enjoy TV. Oh look forward to the day!
________________

On a peculiar final note, something that is delivering some delight- my students. I am really impressed by their commitment to doing the best they can, especially my 202 students who are doing a research/presentation project. I am meeting each project group for half an hour each in the afternoons and it has been a delight to engage with them on an intelligent level... a nice change.

So thanks for dropping by from a happier, new Macier Reno... trah-lah trah-lah!

Wednesday, A Day Off (?)

2011-01-19T18:28:00.000+07:00

I am just beginning to wonder if the photo upload bug was a Mac issue rather than just a blogger issue. THIS is almost two years ago- the first time I got to see inside my apartment.

This is not a real blog, rather it is more like a test to see what happens when I attach my netbook to my Samsung TV screen- hmm, yes it is larger but it keep the silly screen ratio and you still feel like you are looking inside a letterbox- it's just a much bigger letterbox.
Very odd. But when I attach it to my Fujitsu monitor it comes out square and large... Why?

Maybe I will work it out later.

Wednesday
Starts with a jolt at 5:40am. The water pump above my roof has always made a bit of a hum as it takes the water to the header tanks on the roof- essential for a tall building here, but this morning it started with a very loud bang and a rattle that lasted for about half an hour.

I have had a chat with Khun Benjawan, our 74yo Assistant Manager at Chomdoi, and we shall see what happens tomorrow...

Then over morning coffee I try to sort out my enrolment for next semester, but the website is a real crock of crap and amazingly circuitous. It turns out I did manage to un-enrol from the wrong subjects (all of them) BUT no more than that.

Later in the day via email I discovered that my handbook was out of date and I had to go back to website and click on each subject individually to discover which ones were available to distance study next semester- no, there is no list.

And then the process- for each subject you have to go through several web pages, and then you achieve, wait for it, "potential enrolment" - and then go back and do that again, several times, until you get it done for each subject, and then, you go to another page and confirm that what you selected is what you actually want- again! And then you go to another page to check your actual enrolmment! And then you shoot yourself.

Meantime the other fun of trekking across town, then south, then back again (you only drive directly south if you have a special pass) for the "90 day notice". Every 90 days of an extended visa you need to get copies of your passport and visas, fill out a form and deliver it to Immigration. If you are late you get charged 500B/day (about $15). For me this entails finding a songtaew (red cab) or tuktuk, paying about 100B each way and, as Immigration is just 100m west of the office, a trip to Airport Plaza which opens at 11am each day.

Airport Plaza is our shopping fantasy land. Unlike Kad Suan Kaew where the aircon hovers around 30 degrees, AP is a reliably chilly 24, and a smorgasbord of designer clothes, spas, clinics, and eateries. Just walking around is like a holiday on a retail Paradise Island.

I bought 2 pairs of sunglasses (199B each), a cable (450B), some cute mugs and bowls (450B) and of course, KFC for lunch (109B). A rather expensive event, but at least most of these things will adorn my life and spread joy for some time to come.

And then the day almost done, some email at home and a trip across Canal Rd to Dunkin Donuts to meet with some of my confused 202 students... Of course the first group failed to turn up at all, and then the second, 1 of the 4 arrived... but as they say, This is Thailand.

And now? (4:35pm) How will I end my joyous day off?

1. Feel annoyed that I can't study the neurolinguistics subject (Cognition) for my master's degree.
2. Feel puffed up and proud that I finally am enrolled in subjects that exist for next semester.
3. Deliver a melon to David H. across the void and hope he and his GF will eat it. Someone gave it to me- how can a bachelor eat a melon?
4. Hmmm... don't know- oh, that's right, more email and admin for CMU, of course

Separation & Cleansing

2011-01-15T10:21:00.001+07:00

So the photo upload feature is not working- again!

I really hate that.

_____________________

Anyway, in Thursday night Kaan wandered back in the evening, probably to change clothes and go out for food, drink and karaoke etc for the next 24 hours- as he had done every night for weeks. And a strange thing happened. Not for the first time, but this time in a way that was new and different.

I complained a little (?) that perhaps he should find a new hotel and he reacted with bluster about my complaining "all the time" and so I agreed and quietly suggested that this would be a good time for him to find a new home... and instead of jumping up and down with lots of drama, he quietly packed a bag and was about to leave... with the key.

"It would be better if you gave me back the key", I said quietly.
"But I want to come back and get my things", he replied
"You can call me and make an appointment."
And most surprising he quietly gave me the key and left.

That was two nights ago.

Once again I am relieved and while I had been feeling a bit sick with incipient flu and an eye infection, it now seems to be clearing. The stress of having a housemate who might randomly appear, disturbing the life flow and often waking me up in the early hours ruining my sleep before another 6:30am rising was just too much.

Yet there seems to be a mindset here that farang should deal with any and every inconvenience with perseverance, equanimity, calm and cash. Are we superhuman or what?

And the standard response if we do complain is one often spouted in Australia as well: "Well, if you don't like it, go back where you came from!"

But I am not fussed. A bit of calm will be a good thing and maybe I will get a good night's sleep more often.
__________________________

Another little amusing sideline, it seems that CMU just discovered that the last day of term is a national holiday. Given that this was also a day devoted to assessment tasks in class for EVERY course, I reckon there will be a bit of rescheduling coming up again.... Funny how no-one consulted the calendar before now.

Meantime I have added two new internet listings Bahtsaver (no response, a new site) and Craigslist which has delivered quite a few enquiries that might actually lead to a letting and/or sale for the Lanna apartment. We shall see.

So I am counting the weeks till Feb 16 (four?) and then teaching at CMU will be done, to be followed by the delights of exams and marking hundreds of exam papers.

If you had told me a year ago that I would be getting up at 6:30am four days a week for $600 a month (actually $430 for the first semester), I would have thought you were crazy.

Still, I wanted this experience. I wanted to work at CMU and see what it was like. Now I know.

I also know why they have such high staff turnover. To Thai people 12,000 baht ($428) a month is a lot of money- as their full time high school teachers only get half that- but for a foreigner sharing a room and eating street food is not really an option. So, just to survive and pay their bills, my fellow ajarn (professor? uni teacher?) spend their days and nights rushing around on their bikes teaching a couple of hours here, there and everywhere... no wonder they are a tired and grumpy.

So now it's Saturday 10:20am and soon my friend Mokola is dropping by for Scrabble and lunch. Last time he beat me three games in a row, let's hope I can do better this time!

Thanks for dropping by.

Maybe I'll see you in Oz before too long...

Wednesday Day Off, Sleep in and Rearrange the Home 12 Jan

2011-01-12T11:21:00.000+07:00

This is a local sign in Thai (top) and Lanna script- from the time when the North was its own Kingdom. Now very few locals can read Lanna, though it is still spoken in the home and taught to children by their parents- to keep some of the culture alive.

On Sunday night I finished marking the end of term papers, around 320 of them. That had taken up every spare hour and bit of energy for the previous ten days. It is one of those horrible, solitary tasks that only reminds me again and again about the paltry nature of this teaching activity. Enough said, and yet I will probably say it again in a few weeks when the finals come around.

Making a Difference
But rather than succumb completely and sink into the detritus of self indulgence, I set myself the task of adding value for my students. So I designed my own approach to the 202 presentation task that would at least give them a chance of doing some critical thinking and some conceptual development.

I also created a consultation schedule so that each group will get at least half an hour of personal contact with me, and maybe put some quality into the process and the result. This will be an unpaid 15 hours of extra work over the next few weeks, but it will hopefully repay itself in personal satisfaction. Hopefully.

It will also be a lot more interesting that following the "curriculum" which is really just a rather inappropriate book that skims over anything and everything for no apparent purpose.

The aim is twofold; to give my students a chance at some real development even if it is miniscule, and to give me a sense of purpose and satisfaction that is otherwise lacking.
_____________________

Moving things around...
Today I might just get the new painting zone in order. I am changing the living room into more of a work room. I rarely entertain guests anyway- except playing Scrabble with Mokola- so I might as well make it more like a creative studio.

And on the rare occasions that Kaan is here and functional we will get the second bedroom in order for Angela's arrival in early March. It is about time we encouraged some more visitors, especially once my teaching time ends in Feb.

The flat sort of evolved like topsy over the last six months through the maelstrom of full-time study and almost full-time work. Now I want to give it something vaguely resembling intentional chaos... It won't be Home Beautiful or whatever but it will be Renoesque.

Moving across the world...
Whenever there is a break in the traffic this issue comes to mind, again and again. It is about both long-term planning and immediate choices, and what needs to be done in preparation.

It seems very likely to me that my real estate investments in Chiang Mai will not all be sold in the next six months. That doesn't matter too much. They are making some income, and Stig at Chiang Mai Properties can manage them for me, so that's OK. But long term, I think I want my money to work in other ways.

It will surprise some of you that, despite my various disappointments, I still believe this town will be my long term home. Not this apartment, as I have come to understand that apartments are too isolated. Rather I will get a house, a big house somewhere that I like. But that will take more cash, rather a lot more I reckon.

So for the next ten years I will keep my Chomdoi home, work like a dog (again) and save as much as I can. Of course, it might not take ten years.

Getting Ready
This is how crazy I am; I haven't even finished the necessary degree, or even applied for one job, and I am already thinking about what I would need to pack.

Talk about obsessive about planning!

Anyway, I am off to West to see if David has finished with my drill, and have some lunch, and then to the bank to pay a bill (because its the only way I can get an accurate record of what has been paid, where and when), and back home to paint a picture in my new studio zone...

As you can see, staying in the present is a bit of a struggle these days.

Thanks for dropping by.

PS And I am very worried about my friend Paul in Brisbane. Hope to God he hasn't been flooded out.

Busy Midstream Mind Set Sat 8 Jan 2011

2011-01-08T12:40:00.000+07:00

Once again the photo upload is not working for blogger- bugger!

So just some quick news:

Smokey skies across town- pollution and probably the beginnings of the burning off season which will last till Songkran in early April.

It gets quite unbearable as time goes on but for now it is fairly mild.

It's 12:30 and I have spent the morning doing all those dull duties- accounts, emails, washing up, taking out the trash... and putting up some apartment ads on Craig's List. They will be the ONLY ones for Chiang Mai- strangely all the others are for Bangkok, and to give you an idea of the price differences, I couldn't quite believe my eyes- the rental prices in Bangkok are TEN TIMES those of Chiang Mai. Amazing.

As for me, it is home run time- finish the midterm marking this weekend for CMU. This has been a marathon of far too many hours and hundreds of papers, a horrible example of why the 300B/hr is a nonsense- more like 150 when you include all the hassles, extra duties and time wasted reading absurd memos.

But I am feeling upbeat because there are only 5 more weeks of teaching, then another two weeks of marking, then waiting a week (unpaid) to correct the errors from the manual re-input of the results, and then another week (unpaid) to sign off on the final (probably correct) results. I am sure this will be just as tedious as before. So maybe 8 weeks and then, freedom!

Then at the end of Feb, a change of life path and three months of being a student... and my mind is already magnetized by dreams of moving on.

And now, off to lunch at West and lending David a drill "for a few days" (he kept it for weeks last time, so I am giving him a Wednesday deadline), and then back home for some delightful marking...

And for those who are wondering, once the master's is done in early June, I will be thinking about the possibility of coming to Oz... but I can't see how or when.

So, 2010 in Chiang Mai Thailand: Ideas and Advice

2011-01-05T14:21:00.001+07:00

Real Estate: no-one mentioned that when the ‘town plan’ runs out developers have free rein for at least a year until the new one is put in place.

No-one expected that, during the “global financial crisis” Thai developers in Chiang Mai would have enough finance to build around 6,000 new condos in 2010, even though many of those built in 2009 are still empty.

Making real estate a rather testy item- a bugger that I bought 5 apartments in early 2009.

Work: If you are here and Caucasian it will be assumed that you have more money than sense and will be happy to work for anywhere from 100B ($3.50) to 300B ($10) per hour. Or less. Though just like Taipei 1999 there will be rumors that some teacher somewhere is making 800B/hr ($31)… But you can bet that one’s hard to find.

Society: If the expat community was 17,000 in 2008 it is certainly a lot less now… no-one knows for sure. But this is for sure; interesting cities are not made of retirees- which is most of the expats here. Dull.

Cost of Living: This piece of string comes in various sizes. Like any third world country, you can live like a pauper in a slum, eat rubbish and drink water (boiled) and you will spend very little. I would reckon you could get by on 6,000B/month (AUD $231) with large helpings of discomfort, tummy upset, and malnutrition.

I get around 20K and still struggle to enjoy life’s basics: dinner out once a week, beer, aircon, satellite TV, DSL internet, home phone and cheese.

Going Native: Back in 1972 my mate Johnny Allen was the first Australian to go to Thailand and become a monk- or so he told me. For two years he immersed himself totally. He was a monk. And then he came back to Australia, back to Slack’s Creek in Queensland to take care of his sick parents, and then this gay man married a woman and had a few kids- and stayed in Slack’s Creek.

One could immerse; learn the language, go to the temple, practice the gestures, even meditate – but only the simple-minded, or the insanely politically-correct could fail to notice that this is still a witchcraft society, that temple construction is stopped due to too many ghosts, that white string will protect a building, that ghosts can rise up and attack you, that apparently-sane people wear a constellation of amulets to protect them from evil.

Planet Shock: This place is probably much the same as any other. Some so-called sophisticated societies cloak their myths in pseudo-science and hide their corruption in political “donations” and “lobbying” but we all know they are corrupt, just very good at hiding it.

The only difference is that here they are really bad at hiding the corruption… they just expect us to believe their lies. A new police chief announces that Chiang Mai will strictly follow the licensing hours and all bars will close at midnight. Now we know that will happen for a while, but not at the bars owned by the army or the police, and then flexibility will return. But of course he needs to assert his position and show he was the right choice for the job, and then things can get back to normal… which they did in a few weeks.

Love and Lust. If you are an expat you are rich, and it is the locals belief that you should share, and share, until your money runs out and then you should go home and make some more, and send it here. This is a fact and happens all the time.

From time to time you will hear an expat say how they are different, it will never happen to them… but rust never sleeps.

The Year Ahead: 2011

2010-12-31T12:58:00.001+07:00

No time for decisions yet, but directions are in place.

MAppling TESOL and The Move
(Master of Linguistics, TESOL- Macquarie University, Australia as a Distance Student)

June 2011 complete degree and start looking for a serious job. I want to get a position as a Director of Studies and be the boss of a language school.

Such schools don't really exist in Chiang Mai, so I will probably have to consider moving further afield. It might mean going back to Australia and just as likely Vietnam or Korea. It all depends on where the latest financial disaster has struck.

As for CMU, it is an "appointment" but neither a position nor a job, and while I enjoy my time in the classroom as I almost always do, the fact is that farang teachers seem to be viewed more as a necessary inconvenience than anything else, and whatever you do, do not expect an intelligent conversation with your Thai colleagues even in the rare instance that they are capable of communicating... So that can only be a zone of contingency.

International Event Management and The Long Term
I will keep building the website for this but it will be a long time before things pick up in Thailand, another year at least for the Travel Warnings to be dropped and conference insurance to be re-instated.

But I see this as a long term project, and idea that will come into its own in due course.

Life in General
Which general? I hear you ask.

If I have a plan for how to be in the future it will be to continue my creative work. I like to make things so why not?

The most salient issue for me is the lack of stimulating and sympatico company. I have a fair range of acquaintances here but they do not satisfy those requirements.

What to do?

By the end of 2011: An Ideal Scene
The best hope would be to have an interesting, well-paid job somewhere in the world.

If that is in Chiang Mai I would not mind but I have no significant ties/Thais here.

Culture and the Australian Mythos

2010-12-31T11:57:00.001+07:00

“Culture” used to be what people believed and how those beliefs and their customs formed their lives. It also used to be something people did for each other, something private.

When “culture” becomes a product it is the peacock’s feathers in the zoo, no longer with its original purpose, a display of otherness and oddity that must claim to be both exotic and so different that it is incomprehensible- and thus, sellable.

But when you live in a place and see it from day to day, year after year, it becomes transparent and human. You meet locals who are mystified by their compatriots. You meet expats who remain bewildered after years and decades of personal contact. They all miss the simple fact that cultures are enclosed, deluded ways of interpreting the world and reacting to it. If cultures were individuals and could be transplanted into another culture they would need to be locked up in an insane asylum.

We don’t notice the madness because we are surrounded by people being equally insane and in the same way.

In Australia, a place whose politicians and media constantly mythologize as “the best country in the world”, the majority of the populace devotes their lives to striving to pay off the loan on a very expensive house, usually very large on a small plot of land and which they rarely see more than 2 days a week. Australians worker longer hours than most people on the planet.

The other Australian myth is that they love their sport- but they actually participate in sport less than most countries in the world. They demonstrate their love by spending hours on the couch watching it on TV- not attending the matches or actually exercising (they’re too tired from their long working hours).

They do all this because family houses do not attract tax, neither when they are sold at a profit nor when they are inherited. The family house is both a home and a tax haven.

So, is it madness to devote your life to paying for a home you don’t have the time to live in?

And because you borrow the money in the first place, after 25 years of paying it off, it will cost more than double its value at the end of the day.

Summarizing 2010

2010-12-31T00:32:00.007+07:00

There are only two things to be said about 2010:

Better luck, next time!

Better, because it was a crappy year in lots of ways and 'luck' because no matter what you do in this life the luck of the draw hangs around you like a million greedy creepers waiting to drag you to immense riches, average happiness, or total devastation.

I went back to Sydney in May but had too much to do and not enough time to do it, and I was feeling a bit crappy, and then discovered that CMU had told me about a review week which was really an orientation day… so I could have had another week in Sydney.

And the truth is that I didn’t realize at the time how I was… it is just so easy to gently slide into a state of being that is stressed and confused, and, like a lobster in slowly heating water it all seems just fine – until the flesh starts sloughing off…

Are things any better now, some 7 months later? Well yes, I did notice the heat in the water… so that’s one thing. And then I let it slide.

I got to work at Chiang Mai University- it only took me a year and a half to get there- so that happened. I wanted to experience working in an Asian uni, and by the end of Feb that will be out of the way. Whether or not I do another year with them remains to be seen.

I hear my colleagues despair of the poor communications, the weird choice of texts and course design and I know they think this is because this is Thailand- but it’s not. I have a lot of experience studying (4) working in/h universities in Australia (5)- and it is much the same.

University does not teach people how to do things, rather it teaches people about things. Memorizing recipes will never make you a great chef. Knowing what things are called will never make you a great teacher.

Waking up to me

So, while I will spend the last 3 months of the financial year completing my master of applied linguistics like a monk in my room, I have come to understand a fundamental truth and a fundamental question.

The question first:

If, as a scientific analysis of life and the universe seems to reveal- that this it all we get so we’d better make the most of it now rather than trying to store up good things in that future non-existent heaven- what makes you happy now?

What makes you happy?

This is the most important question anyone can ask of themselves because when it comes down to it, all you ever get is now, right now and if you are lucky, a while after than until your heart stops and your brain stops firing.

SO what makes me happy?

Working with people. That’s it. People. And most of all, working with people in a way that makes them happy and better than they were.

And some puzzle, some very complicated puzzle that needs to be solved- like how to teach people so they enjoy the process and their brains actually grow effectively and permanently so they can achieve what they want.

Next Time

And that’s the ‘not now’, the delayed gratification that comes with university study. My last semester ends 6 June 2011, and so the delayed reaction. What happens after that remains to be seen.

Like a door opening, one hopes and another option; to be the Director of Studies and in charge of running a language school, a rather big step from being a process worker in a university production line.

But, because it’s a big puzzle I do enjoy the study process of study and analysis and producing a coherent result. It satisfies my need to unravel the puzzle, but it is very lonely work.

And the prospect of being the boss of a school might just mean that I can give my staff an opportunity to be more than pointless process workers. Though there is a caveat there- no matter how bad an English teacher is they still provide time listening to and doing something with English, so just by being there they do achieve something, some kind of improvement.

Exam/Holiday Week 24 Dec 2010

2010-12-24T14:56:00.000+07:00

Waving Xmas Goodwill across the World!

So I am still playing around with tumblr.com where you can see other bits and pieces by clicking HERE. It is called a micro-blogger site for reasons that escape me... Some good features: quick dedicated posts that are copied to twitter and facebook... and then?

STUDY
Did I mention of got my results back for final assignments? So now I officially have 1/2 my Master of Applied Linguistics TESOL- but also FAILED an assignment for the first time EVER in my university career- very annoyed and actually the result of hidden assessment criteria (ie the instructions did not tell you what they actually wanted me to do!).

So, a warning to anyone doing LING937, TESOL IN CONTEXT- be very careful about the final assignment- you need to include Richards, Van Lier, Mercer, Sinclair, Walsh and Coulthard in your "evaluation" which isn't actually an "evaluation" as stated as what they really want is a systemic analysis!

Very annoyed about that but not sure what to do... I even woke up at 5:30am after a nightmare about it. The course has been in place for 5 years so maybe nobody cares. Watch this space.

So, what next? The course resumes on Feb 21. I have requested AGAIN (third time) that my advanced standing/exemption be reconsidered. I was quite confused about this. In 2009 I was awarded 2 subjects, but then in 2010 this became 1 subject. I asked why and got no satisfactory answer... and too busy to pursue it. Then I thought "Heck, that's $1700 and a lot of work!" So this week I sent another request... Answer: please wait till uni starts again next year.

Hurrrrummppphhh!

TEACHING
So Exam Week has just finished. Apart from my little 8am-6:30pm "proctoring" (I hate that word), I procrastinated about going in to the office to start my marking. Last semester for the finals I found it utterly confusing as corrections came flying in day after day- and sure enough even yesterday there was another.

As part of my new strategy, I am moving my marking and my books to my little office at CMU. For two reasons, 1. separate work and personal life 2. might get to meet some interesting people (seems to be a dearth of them here...). This is possible because the weather has "cooled down" a bit with only 31 by midday so I am not totally wet and exhausted at the end of 4.5 hours of teaching- we shall see.

APARTMENTS AND MONEY
No change here. 2 of 4 rented. Money just enough to get by to pay expenses till June (3 month break over the "summer"), a concept that Kaan is totally mystified by- budgeting? He goes by the Thai philosophy that you spend all that you have and then borrow some more to have a good time because after all, tomorrow might be the end... while I am working on a somewhat longer timeframe, say 20 years?

Vietnam, Cairns, Spain?
I did a "Director of Studies" search today to see what was on offer. Around the world seems like about 6 positions at the moment, ranging in salary from 48-75k.

Given the nature of this beast I will probably have to go somewhere weird and outlandish (exotic?) for a year to establish my "experience" credentials which of course everyone is asking for. But this is not today- another June 2011 project.

Merry Xmas!
So I am off to buy some lettuce and such for tomorrow's lunch at David Holt's place (he's just moved into a double penthouse across the triangle). I am making three salads; greek, caesar, and potato.

So, to all of you out there, do enjoy this "Holiday Season",

love and best wishes to you all!

News of The Week

2010-12-18T15:41:00.001+07:00

This is the photo I have been trying to load for days... Blogger was NOT in good shape.

Anyway, today is Saturday and as I know some of you put me aside for your Sunday reading, I try to make sure there is an update waiting for you.

My big Mac G5 went bust again- just a blue screen again. I am guessing this is the result of persistent power surges, even though I have hardly turned it on since it came back from the repair shop for a second time... Frankly I am loathe to spend another 1,000 baht for them to tell me another story... and charge me again. Seems like the 15,000 baht plus for that repair was really a waste of money, ironic given the fact that I did the repair to save money by not buying a new desktop machine... but seriously, given the very frequent power problems here, it is not a good idea to get a desktop machine without an Uninterruptable Power Supply, so never mind.

While it is lovely to work on a big screen, it is not something I really need right now.

On the work front, we just ended classes for the mid-term break. This is a mixed blessing as it also means the midterm exams- with 6 classes that's around 220 students and as many exam papers, plus 60 quizzes to mark as well- yep, 280 papers! So next week will still be rather busy and for no pay at all!

In retrospect, the last 8 weeks have been quite OK. The weather got a bit cooler so I wasn't dripping in the classrooms. The kids have been good and mostly working rather well. While we have not had the mental stress of teaching from a local and rather weird text, the ones we have are from England and the States and are only marginally better. It still feels odd to be teaching low level English at university.

The high season (Nov-Feb) has not borne fruit with tourist numbers very low and so the economy here in the north remains in the doldrums, which in turn means that letting my apartments remains at 50% occupancy- despite me spending hours uploading ads to various websites and having a fair number of inquiries- many of them rather idiotic...

And finally Kaan, after persisting for a year, has given up on his karaoke restaurant job and considering that he was working from 11am till 3am seven days a week for little more than 6,000 baht a month, I can understand why. Yes, that really is only $206 for 30 days or about $7 a day! And people wonder why they can't keep their staff...

So, in summation, life continues. Nothing frightening, nothing too boring.

If anything I am feeling inactive now that the Macquarie uni is on a break and so, no study till March next year...

One hilarious thing- the CMU English Dept has a tree and a sound system pumping out Christmas Classics... and I thought I had escaped all that... and then I went to the supermarket and it's Xmas cheer all over again!

Where can you go to escape the Coca Cola Claus?

This is a little video I shot on the little Panasonic video camera of David's new BBQ service at West.

(This is a direct upload from my hard disk as there have been processing problems going from Youtube. I don't know if it is a Thai problem or not; the government here has several departments regularly blocking internet sites, for a variety of reasons.)

Upload workaround: Cloudy Chiang Mai, waiting for the plane

2010-12-16T15:26:00.001+07:00

This is ridiculous. Photo upload is still not working directly from Blogger. I added this by clicking the Blog button while in Picasa.
So that works but it is getting very irritating.

Maybe I will go to tumblr but even there I discovered a hint that they will be introducing charges shortly.

So we shall see... meanwhile, I will be spending a bit of time testing it's features.

Dr Dal at Tumblr

Meandering Mind in a Mental Melange

2010-12-12T11:37:00.000+07:00

Photo should be here but upload is not working this morning (10:55am)

10:55am Sunday. Well it starts about yesterday while thinking about going to West and getting the two remaining blue canvasses. I decided NOT to read the news and instead to do a little light reading about brain research into second language acquisition in Google eBooks.

This inevitably led to a thread of other things and suddenly it was 2:30 in the afternoon, with three more articles to read sitting in the printer, a PDF sent off to the Macquarie library staff demonstrating a search problem, a list sent to the librarians of several books from 2010 that should be in eResources for LING902 Cognition for next year, and a weird sense of worldlessness.

Sometimes when you start a research activity it becomes totally engrossing; I had no idea that six hours had passed until I felt hungry!

So why is this brain thing so engrossing? It is not a very complex puzzle where none of the pieces quite fit together. There are hundreds of reports about research into different aspects of brain damage and plasticity.

The damage reports are important because they reveal a lot about the detail of brain function. For example, did you know that particular areas of brain damage can delete verbs but not nouns? Or destroy the ability to recognise man-made objects but still allow natural objects to be identified?

This suggests that
1. the brain stores words and concepts in organised zones
2. stores verbs, adjectives and nouns in different area
3. has special areas for grammar and semantics

The plasticity reports tell us a great deal about how the brain learns:
1. That intense but very short work on sound (14hrs) can create changes in the brain stem (part of the motor response?)
2. That the age at which we learn words, be it in our first or second language slows their retrieval rate
3. That this does not seem to apply to all individuals, that people living in a relationship speaking their second language are far more likely to become proficient than those "immersed" in a second language culture
4. That accent is a myth, or rather the myth that second language learners cannot develop a native-like accent is a myth

And finally, from the greatest minds in the field there is this absurd theme about what we don't understand... rather than attempting to develop a coherent (contingent) concept of brain function.

So why do I care?

Because it really annoys me that we are still victims of old myths that misinform teachers and students.

Anyway, enough of that. I am still in the early stages of unravelling this knot- even after 6 years of reading and analyzing- but I am sure there is an answer.

__________________

And so my weekend became a flurry of adaptation after that. I had to go shopping as the cupboard was bare, which meant that I had to wait for home delivery after 7:30pm, which meant that I couldn't go and see Macbeth last night, which also meant I couldn't go to David's restaurant and get the canvasses yesterday.

I lashed out at the mall and bought season 1 of Queer as Folk (8 DVDs for 700B/AUD$27) and watched that till 1am- even though I was staggered at how boring it now seems. I remember when it was first shown in Australia on SBS and how excited I was that we had our first gay-themed TV series ever!

But now it just looks like boring gossip, normal neurosis and soft porn- and thank you god for the fast forward button!

(And when am I going to have the courage to cut off my cable TV account? At 1,700B/month that's $61 for not much- mostly crappy movies, a bit of BBC, old docos and lots of old Oprah & Martha!)

So now it's Sunday... I will got for a walk, drop in to Kasim's and if they are open get some peanut butter which I forgot yesterday, drop in to West for lunch and canvass retrieval, and maybe even go for a swim if the weather warms up- it is rather cloudy today for the first time in 6 weeks (rare event in the dry/cold season).

And then no Macbeth because today is Kaan's night off after weeks of working every night- so that's that.

__________

I have this sense of being in slow motion right now, probably still the after effect of the study semester, and a sense of having lots to do- as exemplified in the whiteboard that's in my face as I write this- and at the same time, no sense of emergency or pressure... It all needs to be done at some point but there's no rush...

Seems like the Thai atmosphere is infusing my brain.

?

Stand by for future enthusiasms.

Tourism: Weird and Ugly

2010-12-11T10:09:00.000+07:00

Zambia, a gay Safari promotion uses the picture above.

Is it just me or does that seem just a little bit inappropriate?

It's pretty obvious they lifted the photo from somewhere but really, this does look like a white teenager leading a couple of black men into the bush.

So this is the new gay concept- white teenagers leading groups of black men around Africa. No wonder there is an anti-gay backlash across the continent.

Mukesh Ambani built this billion dollar monstrosity- was it in Delhi or Bombay?

Has a wealthy person ever spent so much or something so horrible?

It might look good from the inside...

This is his "private" family home.

_____________

Chiang Mai Update
A couple of weeks ago I went to the Fine Arts Dept show at Chiang Mai University (CMU) and really it was less than inspiring, as demonstrated in the video.

Very often one is struck by the fact that what locals think of as "Thai Culture" is little more than the usual amalgam of international trends, Americana, a thread of local flavor and a large dash of puerile humor... There is a compulsion, in media and daily life, to pretend to be innocent and childlike; "serious" translates into Thai as a very bad thing indeed.

Nonetheless, this weekend the CMU English Club is presenting Macbeth. Will it be the original text or did I hear that it has been "adapted"? Will this mean that "out out damned spot!" has been transformed into a product placement for a local soap brand? I am in a quandary.

This week did feature a very unusual event- an evening with another David (Holt this time, an Australian recently arrived in Chiang Mai and renovating an apartment across the way) during which we actually had conversation, for several hours, lubricated by the requisite beers and wines... It is a rare event to actually have a conversation about ideas here.

Maybe that's a lucky thing; I felt like crap the next day...

Bad Habits
No, not about drinking which I am doing a lot less of as I get older, but rather The News.

I have this bad habit of taking my morning coffee while reading newspapers on the net (when they actually show up, which is actually about 8 days out of 10). This is not uplifting.

It is also silly. How often is it interesting? Not often. Depressing? Often.

And if I read another Wikileak story about how, Surprise! Surprise! how diplomats and politicians have been telling lies, I think I will blow my brains out. It is NOT surprising.

Or about how overseas student numbers in Australia are "plummeting"...

So maybe I'll just watch the sky, count clouds and listen to a good song.

___________

I am sorry if this post is not that exciting. Maybe I am guilty of bad news too.

Thanks anyway.

The Nightmare Cometh: Master of Applied Linguistics LING 902

2010-12-08T12:28:00.000+07:00

Cognition and second language acquisition has been one of my fascinations since 2004 when I was beginning that Master of Education at Sydney Uni.

You may remember that one, it was the year my mother was suddenly struck down with a brain tumor, making it impossible to finish the course... and then I went back years later, and couldn't stand it due to inane tutorials taught by non-native speakers who seemed to have not much of a clue what they were doing and the 96% overseas student component, most of whom could not finish a sentence- and this was a master's in TESOL!)

Anyway, it is end of year break now and I have just finished tidying up the mess of last semester (yes it did take a few weeks!) and getting things in order for the semester to come. It doesn't start till 21 Feb 2011 but I don't want to be caught short as I was at the start of last semester, so I have been preparing as best I can.

4 Hours of File Sorting for 902 Cognition

This is the folder for Cognition, the brain science of language learning:

More than 500 pages already, and I actually haven't printed out the full set of readings yet.

Of course, this being about the brain, these categories are functional more than realistic as each area of research affects another. Nonetheless, these are the streams of research as defined by the scientists so at least there is some coherence.

Of course this area of study has only matured over the last 10 years and so very little of the information has filtered down to actual teaching practice, which is a pity given that this area is rich with tips on how to maximize efficiency and improve the learning experience.

My only worry for the moment is whether or not too much reading will lead to confusion... Or a theory of my own that my professor won't like!

(Been down that road before, with unfortunate results)

And now, off to lunch and retrieval of the fluoro canvasses that have been at West for too long.

Thanks for dropping by!

The Proper Work of Humans

2010-12-06T13:28:00.001+07:00

I was taking a shower standing in my bath upstairs, which is a bit unusual as I really like what I call a "bower" where the joys of bath and shower are combined. It starts with a shower, for the lather and shampoo and then slides down to the supine position for teeth cleaning and face cream during the rising of the tide, and then a minute or three of hand dancing in the droplets of the still-running shower, this being the most significant down-time and meditation period where the mind is allowed to wander as it will...

But I wasn't doing that this morning, even though it is the King's Birthday holiday here in Thailand (an event marked with surprisingly few fireworks last night) but rather a shower, standing and efficient.

And I asked myself: What is the proper work of humans?

And I answered: Like our hunter gatherer ancestors we should strive for a maximum of a few hours a day to get meat and fruit, and the remainder of the day is for singing, dancing, painting on cave walls and telling stories- having fun in creative, serious and delightful ways.

Instead of the glorious Age of Leisure that was the promise of The Computer Age where robots and mechanization would remove all boring drudgery, we have The Age of the Wage Slave and drudgery beyond measure. It is a bizarre achievement.

We are also in The Age of Good Enough whereby anything that can sell is sold whether it is a good product or not.

Take for example the UHT Milk Carton.

Now admittedly this is the cheapest brand of 1 liter milk available in Chiang Mai (33 baht) but all the same it is annoying that a few months ago they changed the opening system.

So that now it won't open when you pull the ring.

Instead the ring just pulls of leaving you with the metallic seal in place.

Not just sometimes, not most of the time but ALL THE TIME!

So then you have to take a knife and put a hole in it.

It is a classic example of incompetence in business. Why would you change something that worked just fine and replace it with something that doesn't work at all, and leave it like that for months on end?

Because this is a Thai product, primarily for the consumption of the farang (expat) community and no-one cares.

For the tourist these minor inconveniences are brushed aside as part of the local colour, the quaintness of Asia and our little Brown Brothers- a sort of benign racism- when in fact it is really a symptom of something much more sinister; the syndrome that comes about with a Superiority Complex (something that psychiatrists recognise as a reaction formation of what is really a sense of inferiority) that directs the elite, and a working class that, having emerged from slavery as late as 1912, are still the victims of extreme poverty and lack of education.

What is fascinating about this syndrome is that it is an excellent self-validating hypothesis. Whenever someone expresses frustration and annoyance at failures of any kind they are branded "unThai" and impolite, lacking the deep understanding required to live in Thai culture. As a result there is never any need to analyze or reflect. It is a perfect machine designed, no that is the wrong word, evolved to avoid conflict and at the same time, perfectly formed to create stasis.

My living room is also evolving more and more towards a kind of creative studio.

But lest we become too negative, we must seek balance.

Western countries have their own ways of hiding from the truth.

In Australia there is the very odd mentality that describes the "suffering" of homeowners when interest rates go up and they can no longer afford to pay for their huge houses, which they rarely spend much time in as they struggle to pay for them.

It is forbidden to ask them: Did it ever occur to you that one day interest rates would go up again, as they always do?

Or the other ridiculous furphy that Australians love their sport when Australians now play less sport than ever and have in fact become the most enthusiastic watchers of sport, on TV. Yes, they love it. They just don't have the time for it- another forbidden topic of discussion.

And perhaps the most curious, the "flood victim", a favourite of journalists who love to catalog the houses washed away and the terrible trauma of the families- but never asking why they built their houses on a flood plain, or why they didn't build them on stilts to avoid such damage?

Mind you, Thailand seems to have a different take on this whereby various provinces are intentionally flooded to keep the water out of Bangkok, and then there follows the wringing of hands and charity drives to care for the hapless victims... But of course it is an act of nature...

And back to Thailand again and here's me, having bought a few apartments, lamenting the sudden building spree and the looming drop in real estate values... Didn't I know that real estate goes up and down?

Indeed I did. It was a gamble, and not yet lost.

Ah, the joys of the human condition are never-ending!

Thanks for dropping by- have a nice day!

Wage of 210B/day (AUD$8.07) too expensive

2010-11-27T13:53:00.000+07:00

From the Bangkok Post today

Wage hike to slow GDP

11-baht raise shaves 0.2% off growth

Published: 27/11/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: Business

The government's decision to lift the minimum wage will affect economic growth by 0.2% on average, says the Finance Ministry, while this year's growth will decline slightly to between 7.3% and 7.4% due to the recent floods.

Pisit Puapan, director of the Macroeconomic Analysis Division in the ministry's Fiscal Policy Office (FPO), said a wage increase from an average of 200 baht to 210 baht a day would have an impact, as wages are a significant investment cost.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said in Bangkok yesterday that effective from Jan 1, the government would raise the minimum wage by 11-12 baht, depending on each province's cost of living.

ME: A rise of 10 baht is about 30¢ a day and given that this refers to an 8-10hr day that's about 4¢ an hour.

Please consider.

Or:
Why a 20 baht tip is considered more than enough most of the time...

Count Your Blessings

2010-11-27T11:56:00.001+07:00


Early morning mists over Chiang Mai City- my morning view.

Oh dear, I just read my 'anniversary' post (see below) and was rather surprised at how negative it was. OK, so there are negatives but every place has its negatives. These are just different negatives, Thai style.

Today that post seems too dark, probably because it is Saturday morning at the end of a good week and I am counting my blessings.

Blessings List
Good job with great students
Loving partner who makes me happy
Nice apartment with inspiring views (see above)
Halfway to completion of my second and a half master's degree in Linguistics
Half of my apartments are rented- 2 out of 4 ain't bad in a market with an 80% vacancy rate.
Inspiration to keep painting (just did some more work on Collar Boy, one of my more outrageous ones.
And tonight going to see some of my students sing and dance at the CMU Fine Arts Department

And finally the weather has cooled down a lot- from high 35s-45s in June-Oct to low 30s during the day and 20s at night- cool enough to walk and relax.

Contrasts
Of course some of you are still asking if this is better than being in Sydney and the answer can only be personal. I would be making a much larger gross income in Sydney (around 120,000 baht a month as opposed to 20,000 baht a month here, or less) but the difference is that if you are careful you can live a lot more cheaply here.

And while I am not an aficionado of cultural displays, I do love the atmosphere of northern Thai culture. Once you get away from the various annoyances of bureaucracy and bad business, you find a people who are friendly and considerate to a fault. Taking the time to chat and take care of others is the norm.

As for the infrastructure, yes it often fails to work but then again in Sydney there are the hassles of travelling about and the annoying neatness of everything... and no street-sellers offering treats and smiles.

Personable, that's what we have here, people are personable. They remember you, they say hello, they come over and take the time to chat, not just a hasty wave of the hand.

So
So please don't get the wrong idea. On balance, I am glad I came here and most probably I will stay, for a while at least.

Thank you for taking the time to drop by- please do leave a comment if you feel like it.
I don't get many comments and I really enjoy them.

And now that I am not so busy with study, you might also think of dropping me an email: renodal@gmail.com

Best wishes
Reno

2 Years of Expatriatism

2010-11-24T14:48:00.000+07:00

I got here at the beginning of November 2008, so it's 2 years now.

I wish there was something astounding to announce but there really isn't- except perhaps that these two years seem to have gone by fairly quickly.

There have been the usual highs and lows that life serves up, with the added annoyance of enough political turmoil to put the northern Thai economy in the doldrums pretty much from the moment I got here.

And it got worse since the riots in May-June as a lot of expat residents fled the country amid the violence and the bombings, even though there was almost no violence up here, and the few bombings actually hurt no-one. Still, it might have gotten a lot worse.

Of course, in my usual fashion I arrived back in Bangkok on the evening of the most fires and turmoil which meant I had to cancel my intended stay and go straight home to Chiang Mai. I was arriving as many others were fleeing, not so unusual for me.

Anyway, what have I learned in these two years?

First of all, and probably most significant, if you want to be an English teacher here you will soon discover that it is not easy to make a living. At 300B an hour (less than $10 AUD), you will either have to tighten your belt or run around town like a crazy person to get enough work to survive.

Second, Thai food is much better in Sydney than it is in Thailand. Weird but true.

Third, you will discover that living in Thai culture is very different from visiting it. Some people throw themselves enthusiastically into the festivals and have a great time. They find the colour and movement fascinating- and good on them.

Sadly I have never been a great fan of ritual obeisance and of recent decades superstition has lost its glamour. Somehow the ritual washing of lingams to create peace and good luck, the floating of little boats to wash away bad karma and the annual dousing with dirty water at Songkran to wash away god knows what- they all look a lot more like bloodletting and the letting off of steam accumulated during months of frustration and tongue-biting.

Basically you just have to get used to the fact that very often things don't quite work as they are supposed to. While technology is one side of that- expect anything you buy cheaply to break down within days or weeks and after a while you will discover that you are paying top dollar for a brand you recognise- because it will probably last a LOT longer. At the same time, you have to accept that any excuse you hear, and any explanation that is offered, is probably more about avoiding problems than solving them. Or to be blunt about it- lies, pure and simple, are the common stock in trade, to the point that after a while you just don't believe what anyone says about anything.

If all this sounds a bit negative, that's because it is. There is so much corruption and incompetence that you just have to assume that everyone is playing the game.

As a result I am feeling a bit negative about the whole thing right now and wondering what will happen next. For the moment it is a matter of hanging in there for the resolution of some milestones; sell the apartments, complete the master of linguistics (June 2011), maybe get a better job, keep plugging away at the event business idea, get through the rest of this semester at CMU and then, consider my options...

On the plus side, I am surviving OK for the moment; not slipping down so much financially, enjoying teaching as usual, happy with my little apartment, happy with Kaan (pron. garn) when we meet up a few times a week, and during this break from my masters study, even doing some more paintings.

So it's not all bad by any means.

Thanks for dropping by, and now, off on a shopping trip to Kad Suan Kaew (pron Gud Soo-arn Gow!) for some supplies.

Happy Week, Loi Krathong

2010-11-21T11:34:00.001+07:00

The internet just went weird again- lost half of this post- oh thank you TTT! Anyway, it was just a blurb about how CMU admin is crap and my students are great... nothing new.

The Happy Week
It doesn't take much to make me happy.

Note the lines through the MAppling (master's) list, and how CMU is wiped clean. Now to concentrate on the IEM (International Event Management) list and the Apts (Apartments), ah no, rust never sleeps!

In this case, finishing my assignments for the master's degree on late Wednesday night was like ending a marathon, a times painful but a real sense of achievement at the end.

Then there is the letdown- suddenly you don't need to run, suddenly you have free time. But that was just a moment of channel surfing on the cable TV (you just know there won't be much of interest), and wandering about aimlessly- and then back to the whiteboard and all the other projects.

Selling the apartments is still on track BUT Viang Ping 310 had mysterious cigarette smoke coming in (but when I went to check it out it wasn't there), and Lanna management are reluctant to give me documents I need to sell that one (an hour of mucking about yesterday that might lead to something...)

There were fireworks last night, but not that many. And those hot air balloons rising in the sky, but not many.

Kaan and I had planned to go down to the canal like last year, risk our lives and send off our own boats and hot air balloons, but they didn't have it down there this year.

We might have gone over to the other side of town, to the Ping river where the real action is- they even have these huge grandstand structures- well not huge exactly, actually about six steps down to water but hundreds of yards long, along the river so you can walk down and put your boat in. But we didn't as the bike is in the repair shop.

And anyway, Kaan had to go back to work.

Sunday morning, and according to City Life (see below) this is the last day. Friday was the start but with little evidence of it. Kaan thinks it might be bigger tonight as more people have today as their day off.

In Thailand most people "work" a six day week, except for the bottom rung (laborers, waiters, dishwashers) who generally work a whole month with one day off at the end.

It's 9:55am Sunday- just had another boom. There were explosions last night but they slackened off around 3am and I thought I might sleep with just a fan as the night was cool, but just as I was starting to doze an almighty bang nearby convinced me. I closed the window and the bedroom door and turned on the aircon- and slept like a lamb.

This aircon thing is a bit annoying. The weather is much cooler now and aircon is mostly unnecessary- a fan would mostly do the trick. However, I have become a light sleeper so every random bang, and every conversation of people coming home in the early hours disturbs me. I have tried over and over and I just can't sleep. As a result, each night I close myself in to my quiet cocoon and sleep like the dead- and pay a thousand baht ($33)/month for the privilege. But sleeping and feeling good through the day is a lot more important.

Anyway, BACK TO THE WEEK:
As you can see from The Whiteboard, there's still a lot to do but apart from dealing with some apartment issues, I am having two days off, my first real weekend for months. This is not a complaint because truly I have enjoyed the mental stimulus of studying and I even learned some useful things.

Sidebar 1: Sadly, as I may have mentioned earlier, linguistics is mostly theory unrelated to teaching practice; it really doesn't tell you how to make a classroom more effective in any coherent way. But then again, when I was doing the master of education at Sydney, the same applied. Wouldn't it be a good idea for universities to think about how to make what they teach USEFUL?

It's just an idea.

Anyway... I was surprised how tired I felt on Thursday and Friday. I slept a lot and dragged myself through the days. When you are in the middle of a marathon you drive yourself along, only at the end do you realise just how tired you are.

Even so, the classes went very well. Luckily my students already had some momentum from what we built together over the previous weeks so they got to do some more work.

Sidebar 2: Curiously, I got a chance to talk with a couple of my fellow teachers on Friday. They told me how their students were stupid, didn't understand what was happening in the classroom and could not keep up- apparently only 12 of 240 students were on the ball in their classes.

So how come most of my 240 students are on the ball, know what's happening and participate regularly? I tried to explain some strategies for them- they are both new teachers with only 4 weeks training in EFL in Thailand.

Why did I waste my breath? Is it possible that I am just very very lucky to have these good students? No, it is just a matter of doing the job properly.

Back to the week... So now it's Sunday, and feeling good again.

Yesterday I had a go at fixing the smoke problems in Viang Ping 310 (couldn't even smell it) and get the documents for the sale of Lanna (an annoying hour of the condo staff being obstructive in that very polite Thai way)... and we shall see.

I had lunch with David at West and felt a bit sorry for him; the lack of high season customers is no small problem for him. I am sure he is not alone.

And the day's highlight was Kaan dropping by for a few hours of the evening... ("Our" bike broke down a few days back so it was hard for him to visit but I managed the 10K baht ($384) yesterday so that will be OK tomorrow.) It's a year and a half that we have been seeing each other now, and over time many things are better and understanding is the key.

Sunday's Theme: Pottering About and Doing Things You Put Off a While Ago
Doing nothing in particular- that's the news!

Pottering about, maybe hang that blown glass blowfish mobile from Koh Samui, tidy up the office/storeroom, do the dishes... take a long bath... think a little about next week's classes... visit the DVD hire shop... drop by Ton Payom market (is it open on Sundays?) to buy some fresh vegees...

And maybe not. Take it easy is the theme

The Ice Truck. They always cover the ice in BLACK vinyl so that it will melt as fast as possible under the tropical sun. It is true that black radiates heat faster than white, but that only works in the shade. In the sun it gets a lot hotter. But then again, this is Thailand.

DUD: Loi Krathong, Loy Grattong, Loi Khrattong?
No-one ever knows how to spell anything here... Thai is hard enough, Engrish is imporsibarl.

Back to Loi Krathong. The tuktuk (tricycle taxi) meter tells me that the tourists have not returned en masse, only the backpackers "who walk everywhere" and are not approved by the tuktuk guild. It seems these young poor people don't care about the travel warnings.

They are probably attracted by the prices. A decent hotel room is going for as little as 300B ($12) a night at the moment, and this is "high" season?

Since I got here in Nov 2008 I haven't actually seen a high season- if it wasn't the Yellow Shirts closing the airports, it was the Red Shirts closing Bangkok, and the bombs and such. Oh, by the way, here's a little hint about why it won't go away for a bit; lots of Red Shirts are still in gaol five months later, without charge, for their role in the May-June protest but not one Yellow was even charged for their role in closing Bangkok and Phuket airports for weeks!


Morning Fog. This time of year we get fog in the mornings, rather romantic. It will last for a while, and then in March it will look much the same, but then it will be smoke from the burnoff in the hills.

If you got this far, this is a little reward- foggy morning view from my apartment.

THANKS FOR DROPPING BY!

Bye!

Loy Kratong Chiang Mai, fun, safe and no alcohol

2010-11-19T20:21:00.001+07:00

LOY KRATHONG

Date: 20 November 2010 - 22 November 2010

Location: Thapae Gate and the Ping River

www.city-now

LOY KRATHONG BETWEEN 20- 22nd all over town - especially at Thapae Gate and the Ping River - check out www.city-now for further info

_____________

Typical of the joys of the Orient... a bizarre theme, I mean how inspiring is it to be fun, safe and no alcohol?

And on top of that, the reference above comes from the city-now website- so it's useless- you just go back to same place you started!

Of course the fact is that while it might be fun- letting off fireworks all over town, it is definitely NOT safe as anyone and everyone sets things off at random, and in ALL directions... and then a lot of people go out and celebrate by drinking themselves silly and driving home!

Last year Kaan and I went out once to float one of the hot air ballons, and set little boats into the irrigation canal- to send off the bad vibes and negative karma, and almost had my head blown off by huge Roman Candles and Fire Rockets... I stayed home for the remaining two evenings and tried to sleep over the sound of explosions going off till dawn.

This time?
Maybe I'll wear a helmet and a welder's mask...

Halfway to MAppling TESOL!

2010-11-19T19:16:00.000+07:00

On Wednesday night, after a marathon all day all night writing session I completed the last of my assignments for the masters degree- for this semester.

I am now halfway to getting the master's degree.

I still feel exhausted after teaching day and night Thursday, and then today but relieved.

And now, off to West for a decent meal and a chat.

Friday 7:15pm

Small Sense of Progress: Milestones

2010-11-10T09:44:00.000+07:00


"Congratulations" Traditional Backdrop for what we call a gradation ceremony.

I am impatient. I like things to happen at an exciting pace. I don't like waiting.

Does that mean I am still in my adolescent mental phase?

Actually when I was a teenager I was very patient. I patiently persisted with my awful fiddle playing with an hour's practice every day for years until I got a decent tune. I did the same with the blues harp. I spent months working on scripts for plays, ideas for poems and stories. All of these are signs of my patience.

But I was and always have been impatient with things that seemed pointless; I never saw the point of someone with obviously artistic interests studying quantum physics or quadratic equations, so I stopped that when I was 17 years old.

Now I am supposed to be mature and patient, a different kind of passing time (a bit like passing wind but much more prolonged).

So I will spend another 7 months to get a Master of Applied Linguistics (TESOL) even though the writers and researchers freely admit that most of the research is never applied to the classroom, teacher training or the writing of texts. It is the ticket to a better job as a "Director of Studies" which is just another euphemism for school administrator. Nonetheless, I might actually get a job where I can apply some of my knowledge.

At the same time I am teaching. Again the passing of time involves a sense of frustration; the texts are based on an out-dated "immersion" model (that just seeing and hearing language makes it usable to the student, which it generally does not). So while it is possible to subvert the system with some pointful practice in the classroom, it is also necessary to persist with exercises that are basically just a waste of time. Patience is again required.

At the same time, due to the pressing needs of another 7.500 words of essays in the next eight days, work on the event management project must remain in abeyance. Come November 18, work on that can continue, and again patience is the key. Who knows how long it will take to get that first exciting project?

Running in the background my estate agent continues to show the apartments for rent and sale, and there is again nothing but patience required- and a little web advertising. Milestones will come as the economy picks up, one hopes.

Perhaps the hardest part of all this is the rhythm of life necessary to make all this work. Fundamentally my life follows just three themes; teaching, shopping and working/studying at home. There is neither time nor money to do much else for the moment.

I feel like complaining but the truth is that the mental challenge of the uni study is like ambrosia, a shot of mental stimulus rarely available in the course of normal life here (or anywhere?).

Time to be a master of delayed gratification.

Owl Boy and Bath Work

2010-11-03T09:51:00.000+07:00

I stole this pic from a news story blaming Harry Potter for the owl shortage in India. Curiously the story also mentioned that owls are slaughtered in their thousands as part of black magic and non-black religious rituals each year... so obviously keeping owls as pets is terribly wrong? And I even think this rubbish was on the BBC website.

It never ceases to amaze me how stupid and illogical the news media can be.

On a brighter note, I had a bath this morning, a nice long one that I can't have M/T T/F because I am up at 6:30 and at work by 8. But this luxury is not so self-indulgent as it might seem, as it is an important kind of work time.

This is when the brain is allowed to swim about in the soup of whatever. This time it came up with the new "innovative" curriculum I need to propose in my uni essay, a problem I had been mulling over for two weeks. Time well spent: 20 minutes.

The "day off" will be devoted to writing, from lunchtime onwards. For the morning an excursion to Kad Suan Kaew, the local shopping mall, to pay the bills at the bank and get some supplies.

I pay my bills at my bank rather than at the 7-Eleven because at least with the bank if something goes wrong there is someone to complain to as I know the manager fairly well. At the 7-Eleven who knows what happened? And things do often get lost and confused around here.

I could pay some of these on the internet but I tried that once for a bill and the company claimed it never received it. I had the electronic record but that didn't seem to matter. Hell knows what happened.

So now I go to the bank and get a printed receipt from them.

Today's BIG GOAL: to complete at least the framework of my essay for Innovation.

Teaching, Living and Adjusting

2010-11-02T18:05:00.001+07:00

One of my students with his impression of me- note the amazing difference in our sizes!

I wanted to write "I don't know what's wrong with me". It would have been properly dramatic. But in reality it would have been a lie, an obfuscation, a dissembling... maybe even disingenuous.

The simple truth is that by the time Friday came I was feeling pooped. The combination of teaching, studying, sorting out the real estate and the other demands of life found me wandering like a zombie by Friday night, so I had a few glasses of wine and then made a middle-aged man's prime error- I went out to a bar and drank some more.

"You should know better!" I hear you say, and you are right. But in that state wisdom is replaced by some visceral need for meaningless folly and emotional release... followed by days of Foggy Brain Syndrome and the Why-Do-I-Feel-Like-A-Wet-Rag? echo in the head.

It's a simple matter really. When you are young you can get plastered till 4 in the morning, sleep for 90 minutes and be at work bright and cheery for a 12 hour shift at 6am. No problem. But at 55 while we still believe (madness?) that we are young of heart and bod, we are not.

It is very easy to believe that you are a superman after a few glasses of wine...

One can only hope that the mucky miasma will lift and clear days of feeling all sparkly again are just over the horizon.

Oddly enough the teaching continues to go very well and in general my students are enthusiastic and engaged- as evidenced (?) by the art above and below.

It is reassuring to know that, even when I am not at my best, my students see me as such an icon of strength... Little do they know!

500,000 affected by floods

2010-10-23T12:49:00.000+07:00

One of the coordinators at CMU approached me yesterday with an envelope asking for money for flood victims... It is true that the floods are worse than last year but it also seems to be true that they happen every year in the rainy season and according to reports I read last year the water is intentionally diverted to poorer provinces to avoid flooding Bangkok- but I have no idea if that is true or not.

It is the old adage- give a man food and he will be hungry tomorrow, teach him how to feed himself...

But here's a tip- most of the rice growing areas of Thailand (and the world) are situated on flood plains, so wouldn't it be a good idea to accept this fact and prepare for the annual floods?

Of course, this may be impossible.

Meantime, the government actually forgot to appoint someone to take care of this situation...

From The Nation (Bangkok):
The main responsibility for flood management had been assigned by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to former deputy prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban, but after his resignation to take part in a by-election campaign, Abhisit was too busy with other tasks. "No one in the government is now dealing with the flooding," the source said.

Oh, and apart from the flooding, there are water shortages towards the end of the dry season each year... by the way. I say "shortages" but to the north of Chiang Mai, around Chiang Dao they have no town water at all for most of February and March each year, and as the locals are poor, they also have no private water storage either, which means they have to buy drinking water.

I have no idea what they do about washing themselves or their clothes.

Chooky Dancers, Blended Culture

2010-10-23T12:12:00.003+07:00

Floods, earthquakes, wars... I have had enough of it. Instead today I spent some time trawling for images of the Chooky Dancers- a bunch of kids (boys) who made a name for themselves doing a weird and wonderful version of Zorba on Youtube, with a shitty camera and terrible lighting and still got millions of hits.

When I saw it for the first time I laughed till I cried. That was a few years back and amazingly they are still going.

They are fun, as evidenced by their name- chooky refers to chicken legs, the skinny legs that are a common trait of aboriginal people. As you will see below, they have progressed even to the "heights" of the Sydney Opera House... I hope they tour Europe in the northern summer.

A key point about Elcho island (pop. 3,000) is that it is the source of so many talented people and groups including Yothu Yindi, and that these all seem to have been fostered by a couple of elders who engendered a pride in performance and fun- both traditonal and "modern".

What I love about the Chooky Dancers most of all is their ability to absorb whatever comes their way and then send it back in a new and sometimes farcical, always enjoyable package.

This post is a cut and past from various articles across the Net.

Chooky Dancers

Inspired from SMH article: Island Life about Elcho Island 550km from Darwin, a population of 3,000 people and the source of most of the aboriginal performing artists who achieve prominence in Australia and around the world. And here is what I think is the reason:

Like some kind of ancient song line, all the island's musical and dance success stories can be traced through clan and family connections back to the late Frank Garawirrtja and his musical mentor Dick Munungugu.

The island is so small- just above Dhadupa

The Chooky Dancers

The Chooky Dancers’ extraordinary ability to borrow with aplomb from western cultural influences and to synthesise these with their own language and identity as Yolngu is strikingly demonstrated in the Chooky’s new theatre production Ngurru-milmarramiriw or Wrong Skin.

Chooky Dancers in more traditional mode

Darwin Festival

Showing at the 2010 Darwin Festival in August, Wrong Skin explores the complex parallel lives of the young women and men from Elcho Island, 550 km from Darwin off the North East coast of Arnhem Land. The performance sees traditional dance and live yidaki playing from performers including Djakapurra Munyarryun of Bangarra Dance Theatre juxtaposed with technology and contemporary storytelling.

Chooky in White

Wrong Skin

Wrong Skin is the Chooky’s take on the classic Romeo and Juliet story of forbidden love and clan loyalties, which explores the pressures faced by Australia’s remote Indigenous communities, determined to maintain their identity and culture while finding a place for their children in the contemporary world.

Chooky Dancers as part of the Wrong Skin show at the Sydney Opera House, September 2010

And while the chicken legs are still in evidence, it looks like the indigenous look has been totally abandonned... ah well, so it goes.

Video Montage of Wrong Skin- I hope it was more fun than this clip suggests:

________________________________________

2010- a somewhat bizarre version where the staging "effects" almost totally obscure the dance. I don't know where this was but the presence of Shawn McCallef suggests the Melbourne comedy festival.

Trying to Study: Rain, Floods, Sunshine

2010-10-21T15:00:00.001+07:00

Since returning from Koh Samui ( koh means island in Thai but for some reason no-one ever calls it Samui Island), the weather has been most variable and for the last two days we had rather a lot of rain.

When it is not totally obscured by rain the night view from my apartment is rather lovely.

You might think that lots of rainy days was excellent for studying and writing as there is no temptation to go out, but the trouble is that you get a bit stir crazy. Nonetheless study is progressing and over the next two weeks some 10,000 words will get written and I will be halfway through my Master of Applied Linguistics (TESOL).

On the business front the new business cards for International Event Management are done thanks to David (of West) pointing me to a service in the local shopping centre- 300B ($10) for 100 cards, double sided, including doing the layout in Adobe. Not bad for AUD$12.

Inspired by this I met with Khun Neung (Miss) at the Shangri La Hotel and did a proper venue survey. However, there are still more people to meet and some photos to take before I can complete the survey, and then there will be a thorough feasibility study on the International Event Management blog.

I love having a whiteboard to work with, so much better than itty-bitty lists. This is now on the living room wall opposite my desk. Excellent.

Of course, there are still lots of other things to do; CMU starts back on Friday with a meeting day (rather dull I suspect) and then classes on the 26th for the 2nd semester, there is MAppling as you can see, various IEM projects and finally still working on renting (we have 1 of 4 vacant right now) and selling the apartments. So there are things to do.

But right now it's 2:30pm and I have spent the last 3 hours investigating the very frustrating research systems of Macquarie Uni and their associated search engines and electronic "resources". This is so annoying. You find something interesting, try to track it to its source only to find that you are then directed to have a look in the library! It is utterly absurd in this day and age that there are still texts available only on paper.

Meantime the clouds cleared out my window and it is now a cool yet sunny afternoon. Yes, cool at around 24 degrees.

I took this a few weeks ago from my window and now it is finished. Amazing how fast these Burmese builders can be with the most basic of tools and their bare hands. The plus side of this is just how quiet building is- no jack hammers or other heavy machinery- except when they do the foundations.

Driving across town for the first time in a few weeks I was again surprised to see several new buildings in progress. This is an extraordinary building boom with constructions going up like mushrooms all over the place, though much more concentrated in my area. By the end of the year I reckon there will be around a hundred new apartment blocks around this part of town.

For those of you who missed the reason a couple of blogs ago- the town plan finished in January 2010 and so, during the next year or so until they make a new one, building zones, planning ordinances and the 24 metre height limit are in abeyance... you can basically do whatever you like in 2010 so investors are rushing to complete before the window of opportunity snaps shut. An interesting "system" huh?

My view on another day showing just how very dramatic the clouds are here. I suspect this is because we are high in the mountains and so the clouds are actually lower in the sky.

Now what else to report? Sadly bombs still go off from time to time but these are usually to the south, around Bangkok and further down in the Muslim provinces where they have been fighting for several years now. Up here in the northwest, it is all rather quiet. from time to time I do hear explosions (every few days) and wonder what it might be, but it is probably just temples letting off fireworks to ward off evil spirits- disturbing nonetheless.

I remain hopeful that things will settle down soon and the travel warnings will be removed. Only then will conference business come from overseas; they can't come with the travel warnings as their insurance is void. So probably a year from now things will improve.

This rainbow made an arc all the way across town, huge. I tried to do a photomerge of the whole thing but the varied exposures made it look horrible. It was quite a sight.

So here I am, pottering along, keeping busy with my various projects, feeling a bit annoyed because Kaan is working too much (when I should be grateful), and writing this when I should be doing my academic reading and writing essays. Naughty me.

Thanks for dropping by. Please do drop me a line at renodal@gmail.com if you get a moment, it's always nice to hear from friends.

Bye for now!

PS. I will try to set up skype again but the dodgy internet here makes it a bit difficult.

London: Servant killed by prince

2010-10-20T10:04:00.000+07:00

Saudi prince kills servant/lover?

"Just friends" he claimed. And at the same time the victim was apparently an orphan, adopted and then treated "like a slave".

So curious how the media will pussyfoot around the obvious and yet mention that the young fellow was strangled by hand, without a struggle...

A sidebar that his homosexuality would make for some problems back in Saudi Arabia was glossed over...

Obviously medievalism persists.

Mincing Meanings

2010-10-20T09:24:00.000+07:00

Quote from SMH today:
Steve Jobs doesn’t shy away from tough questions and isn’t afraid to mince words.
-------
But actually from:
Mashable.com is the world's largest blog focused exclusively on social media news.
-With wires

So, if one person makes a mistake, and no-one notices, Jeff Goldblum jumps off a cliff in New Zealand and likes to mince his words... ?

Idiom Dictionary:

not to mince words or matters

Meaning

speak frankly and without sparing the listener’s feelings
Example John said she was being economical with the truth, but I refused to mince matters and told her she was a liar.

________________

The lazy, sloppy media really gets my goat sometimes.

Meaningful 0-100%?

2010-10-16T11:09:00.001+07:00

If you go to the Tops supermarket behind the Novotel off Chang Puek Rd you will see something peculiar in the lotions aisle- more than 200 different whitening creams- no kidding!

Being white is a big deal here in Thailand. Light skins are a requirement for just about all public figures, celebrities and TV personalities. The only exception is the clown character or possibly the katoey clown in some comedies. Otherwise it is white, white, white!

This may seem odd in an Asian country where the majority of people are certainly not white but when you realise that most of the media, business and politics is controlled by the elite from a more recent Chinese background (I say more recent as it is fairly certain most of the Thai population migrated from southern China some thousands of years back), then the reasons are obvious.

But for the beach boys who take care of the jet skis, this is not an option- brown as chocolate, which means that getting a decent photo on a sunny day is impossible...

And of course colour is meaningful in many cultures. Here it seems to be associated with Burmese migrants/refugees, who can't afford whitening cream and who often work outside. And then there is the secondary association- illegal activity, drugs and danger...

Does this dark-skinned association ring any bells?

Anyway, the beach boys seemed quite happy- better to be brown and have a job than be white and homeless, I guess.

Today is a relaxing day, off to play scrabble and have lunch with David (an Aussie) and Mokola (a Karen friend).

Next week more work on the Master's degree and International Event Management.

Please stand by.

Rampart Fraud

2010-10-14T16:49:00.000+07:00

From the Bangkok Post- Maybe their subeditors need a bit of training

Apparently a bunch of engineers faked their credentials, leading to some problems with aircraft... you can fill in the blanks.

And then it was realised that a lot of other people faked their credentials...

What is most amusing is that often these people get to do their jobs for years, even decades in some cases, before anyone seems to notice.

Makes me wonder what the qualifications are for.

Did you know you can get a bachelor of law at some unis in Asia by multiple choice tests?
Sounds very fair to me.

Samui via Surat Thani, slow trip

2010-10-13T18:19:00.001+07:00

Rather than pay the 26 thousand baht to fly direct to Koh Samui, I decided we should try a bit of overland by flying to Surat Thani and taking the ferry to Koh Samui.

Surat, Main Street

While this seemed like a good idea, no-one mentioned that arriving at 7pm would be too late to get to the ferry or that it would take us another hour to drive to the city. So we had to stay overnight, and then we had this ridiculous drive around for hours and hours, then onto the ferry (which was rather awful).

By the time we got to Samui that evening (after another 5 hours travelling) we just wanted to take it easy but then we discovered we were on the dead side of the island, and I mean dead!

After our 2 hr drive from Surat to the ferry we got off the bus, and then, you have to walk one kilometre to the ferry.

Next day we took a taxi across to Chaweng beach and checked into Al's Resort, right in the middle of the "action". Action?

And here we are finally at Al's Resort Chawang beach Koh Samui- lunch.

Well not much really- a large white-sand beach, expensive bars and expensive restaurants, and lots of rather expensive shops.

Once on the ferry the view is rather dismal.

Drove around to see the sights.

Would you like lies with that?

And then we booked a trip back- the agent promised that we would put our bags in the bus and it would take us ALL the way to the airport.

Well we actually ended up travelling on FIVE different buses, songtaews and minibuses for reasons that were never explained.

Oddly enough we were only an hour later than predicted.

There are some "sights" on Koh Samui but nothing special really. This is an example- the Big Rock

Recommendation:
Do NOT fly or train to Surat Thani. It is a very dull blight on the landscape.
And the ferry trip is really nothing special.
The trip (1 hour) across the island to Chaweng beach is not interesting.

So, fly direct from Bangkok to Koh Samui.
You will arrive in a much better mood.

Welcome to Bangkok. If you fly domestic (and often international too) you have to get on a bus packed like a Tokyo subway train and make your way to the terminal. Ridiculous for a new airport.

CLICK BELOW TO SEE THE FULL ALBUM:

Samui 7-12 Oct 2010

Real Estate Boom, No City Plan

2010-10-04T09:42:00.000+07:00

Well I found out why the skyline is changing; there is no city plan.

There was a city plan that kept the height of buildings restricted to 12 metres- about 6 floors- to keep the style of Chiang Mai intact...

But that ran out at the beginning of the year, so there are no regulations until the new one is put in place, probably about a year from now.

This was my first view here in Nov 08 but if the City Plan takes much longer to complete views like this will become a thing of the past.

So that is why there has been a sudden building boom around my area; previous zoning and height rules are in suspension...

And so views like the one above (my first view in CM) may shortly be obliterated by competing high rise.

And why all this building, in the middle of a slump? Firstly, there's the absent "plan", then there's the cheap interest rates and finally there is the big hope for the future in the form of retired expats.

In a country where 80% of people live on the breadline, in homes roughly equivalent to slums, the retiree market is very significant as they will happily spend much more than local Thais on a house or apartment- and apartments are much more attractive because they can buy them outright, which they can't do with houses unless they are a locally constituted company. And if they don't but they will rent, and at much higher prices than most Thais can afford. So it is a desirable market.

There's only one problem; it may not be a growing market. Following the May/June riots in Bangkok many of the expats fled the country and most of them still have not come back. A key reason for this is that as long as Travel Warnings are in place from their home countries, their insurance policies will be invalid - not a small problem.

So the investors are banking on the market burgeoning again and the profits to flow. Personally I think they are wrong. The political scenario here has changed markedly. The divide between the rich and poor has become a political issue as never before, and mostly importantly, the poor now have representation and organisation that they never had before. And given the potential for the Red Shirts (ie 80% of the population), the party is also very attractive to those seeking power.

Of course it is utterly ironic that Thaksin, one of the richest men in the country, should have created this power base for the 'poor' and the 'north' but at the same time he was apparently the first politician to see the potential and make use of it. He was also smart enough to invest vast amounts of public money and resources into very visible infrastructure projects in the north, making it very clear that the Yellow Shirts (ie the rich, status quo, Oxford educated, Bangkokians) had been doing nothing for a very long time.

The Red Shirts will persist one way or another for one simple reason, they have no choice. Or rather, they can return to poverty and farming, or they can dream of a better life... And even the struggle is a lot more interesting and exciting than sitting around doing nothing.

So there you have it- a building boom that won't stop till the new city plan is in place and an assumption that all will return to normal when it probably won't.

The uniform at Thai universities will seem odd to the western eye, as if they had never left high school, but then the mentality can also seem a bit like that too, so go figure!

Dangerous Mix: Reno, Exams & Marking

I really wonder how this will pan out. I did a foolish thing- I told the truth about an exam. It was 5 days ago that I sent my assessment of a test to the test's originator and there has been no word of reply. It was not a kind assessment.

It was foolish because, as I have come to realise, universities both in Australia and elsewhere, are not magnets for genius risk takers. Rather, they are safe havens for relatively intelligent, risk averse yeah-sayer toadies who won't tell the emperor he has no clothes.

So today (Monday) I am off to see what is in my "mail box" and decide what to do. Needless to say the long term outlook at CMU is not rosy.

Master of Applied Lingustics (TESOL): Mid-Term Assignments

Got three done so far, and just one more to complete by Wednesday- not a problem as all the research is done.

The strange thing is that I am enjoying it. Being able to study quietly by myself and nut out the thorny issues is the kind of thing an obsessive like me loves to tackle.

I am also just so very glad I don't need to attend tutorials as I did back at Sydney U. Not only were they often assinine in the extreme, I mean, why were we doing ESL classroom tasks? Oh, to "demonstrate the theory" (??) but hardly appropriate activities for a master's degree. But then again, the 90% overseas students in the tutorials did find them challenging. Anyway, it was torture for me and happily now history.

So it looks like that project will continue.

Looming Beach: Koh Samui or bust!

It's more than 2 years since I went to the beach and being a Sydney boy, I miss the sight of the sea. So Kaan and I will be heading off in a few days for a Tropical Island getaway (hi Linn!) with the prime requisite a room on the sand with a little verandah looking over the water.

A week of escape. Hmmm!

Ups and Downs like Life

From time to time do you suffer from the Why Me? syndrome? I do. But it is really a bit silly, a sort of throw back to those youthful days when we thought life was a fun adventure, that our dreams would all come true just like in the movies...

So I was feeling hard done by, personally when in fact I was just suffering the same as everyone else, and in fact, I am much better off than most. Sure the current job sucks in many ways but the actual doing of the work is still lots of fun- and not many people can say that. Sure the real estate scene here is now terrible, but we will sell the apartments and reinvestment the money so that will be OK. So in a world where most people have horrible jobs and horrible bosses, where living in a shanty is the norm and being poor is normal, I am actually doing very well...

So don't complain!

But hey, complaining is in my genes, my mother was a master of the whinge, so I can't help it.

Now I could complain about that but...

Saturday, Ending a Drab Week

2010-09-25T16:55:00.003+07:00

So the highlight of the week was a call from the HP "Service" Center. Apart from waiting a week for the keyboard to crawl all the way from Bangkok as they don't keep spares in Chiang Mai, the technician wants to wipe my hard drive and reinstall Windows.
Why? I know why- because has nothing else to do? Windows was working fine before the keyboard stopped working. I reckon the problem is that he can't get to the HD because he can't get past the security screen. But I know how to do that, if he just plugs in another keyboard it is easy.
So I told them not to do that till I can see them on Tuesday. Then I will bring along a flash drive- just in case- but I am pretty sure it is unnecessary.
This is a bit like the "circuit breakers" in my home condo; they don't break as they are really only switches. The 'real' circuit breaker broke down (burned out?!) so the "engineer" decided it must be because my condo's load is too high and replaced a 40amp breaker with a 60amp breaker... "breaker"? But breakers don't burn out when they overload, they switch off!

Except in Thailand.

But then again, in a country where people with PhD's can't get the answers to a multiple choice listening quiz right, it would be extreme to ask an untrained "engineer", a man of all maintenance works, to understand technology.
What amazes me most is that people are still selling digital clocks, without battery backup. Given that the power goes out several times a week, sometimes twice a day, they need to be reset quite a lot!
I know this because the only digital clock in my iPod mini-sound system requires regular attention.
The good thing is that the digital reset function in my hot water service has failed (made in Thailand with a Japanese name, Fujika). As a result the hot water heater no longer turns itself off after a power outage, and that's a good thing!
Are you beginning to get the sense that I am loosing my cool?

I should be going to a work function this evening, a retirement event for someone I don't know. I paid the 150B ($5) for what I don't know... but I'm not going. I just don't have the energy for politeness and lip-biting right now.

This was my view during lunch on Wednesday. I thought a quiet moment with some Indian food would be good preparation for my meeting with Stig and the real estate update.

Well, the lassi was OK, and the nan bread was delicious but the chicken curry turned out to be mostly bones in a decent sauce. For a total of 400B this was not a bargain.
At the same time, with this view across the road, I got to see four guests return to the hotel on foot, and not one car or bus for the whole hour that I was watching. Seems like the Shangri La Hotel might be running at less than 10%.

And then the meeting with Stig also had some bones. In short, the building boom continues at a furious pace- hundreds of new condos are coming on the market as we speak. Hundreds.
This is at a time when the farang/tourist trade is at its lowest and vacancy rates for upmarket apartments are around 80%. Hotels are around 90% empty. (Don't believe what you read anywhere, I can tell just by looking at the black windows, let alone the gossip.)

So, in a race to the bottom, people are either just forgetting about renting or are discounting like crazy, so an apartment that might have rented for 15,000B/month is now down to maybe 5,000.

In light of this it is highly unlikely that my apartments will make a decent return in the foreseeable future. The money would make a better return in the bank back in Oz, so there it will go as soon as it can.

So that made me grumpy too!
Is there any good news?

It's not so hot now- only around 28 in the mornings with low 30s by lunchtime, so that's a plus.
My health is OK and I will get back to my daily swimming routine today (instead of lip biting which is not good exercise).
And it seems that my roof has stopped leaking.
And once I complete the mind-numbing Monday of invigilating ("proctoring" they call it here- must be an Americanism) from 8am till 6:30pm with a pointless 4 hour break in the middle, my days will be free of dawn wake up calls for a few weeks. A good thing.

I am planning to go to Koh Samui for a few days on the beach, a bit of island lazing in mid-October. Amusingly from Bangkok Airways that can take 6hrs or 1hr 50mins... B12,310 (around $400 return!) according to the website... off to a travel agent to see what can be done about that!

So there you have it, the week that dragged its feet.

How many hours to achieve almost nothing? 4

2010-09-22T22:06:00.001+07:00

Well I do exaggerate but almost.

Today was devoted to getting a bunch of important things sorted out. It was not very successful.

1. Apple Shop. Return G5 iMac to be repaired again. Wait and see. But at least they were there, but for some reason they had to type in all the details again because they couldn't find the original repair order.

2. Chiang Mai Mail, to place some ads. But they had 'temporarily moved' back to their old office according to a note on the door, but they weren't answering the phone at the other site. Fail.

3. Icon to get a new keyboard for the hp netbook- no, it will take 3 weeks, why not just plug in a new keyboard into the USB? No. And then, why not go to hp shop?

4. hp shop on Changklan Rd. About 45 minutes because they had to email the "Bangkok team" to find out if they had a keyboard and how much? And then did something else for half an hour... so I asked what was happening... oh let me check my email... and after about 45 minutes it will cost more than 3,000B and "5 working days". I am not holding my breath.

5. And then, off to near Shangri La Hotel for lunch - Indian, 400B, and not that good.

6. Visit Stig at House in Chiang Mai to discuss the apartment rental scenario. So we have a disaster economy, political turmoil and an average 80% vacancy rate across town AND there are hundreds of new apartments coming onstream near my older ones. Rents are going down. Sale prices are going down. Not that good either. So it looks like a smart time to sell - before the new ones come on line and there's another political meltdown... especially as the high season arrives soon (November-February) when visitors and sales spike.

So, got home 4 hours later, exhausted and feeling a bit miserable. NOT an inspiring day.

Two more days of 6:30am waking and teaching till the end of term. YIPPEE! for that at least.

Nigerian Real Estate Scam

2010-09-18T13:00:00.000+07:00

Someone, possible this girl Morin sent me an inquiry about buying one of my condos and I actually got excited. I should have noticed that she was replying to a RENTAL advert with a buying inquiry. Anyway, I wrote back and guess what? A call from Nigeria for money, as you can see below.

She has $4.7 million dollars and will give me 30% if I help her, an amazing offer!

Cleverly she doesn't ask for any money is this long email... get in the hook and then...

Of course, as I am sure most of you know, $4.7 million is the usual amount that refugees have in their bank accounts... sure!

Hello Dear,
How is life with you? I hope great.
I am happy in your reply to my email, meanwhile like i told you my name is Miss Morin Godwin, I'm 24 years old of age, from Rwanda in Eastern Africa, I am 5.10ft/178cm tall, fair in complexion, never married before and still single, but presently i am residing in the refugee camp here in Dakar Senegal (in Western Africa) as a result of the civil war that was fought in my country Rwanda, I am the daughter of late Dr. Alphonsus Godwin. My father late Dr. A. Godwin was the managing director CEO of (an oil company) GoddyAlphs & Associates (Ltd), and he was also the personal adviser to the former head of states in my country Rwanda before the rebels attacked our house one early morning and killed him alongside with my mother and my only beloved younger sister all in cold blood, it is only me that is alive today for the fact that i was in school during the incident, after which i had to ran for my dear life and with the help of the red cross charity society i managed to make my way to this country Senegal where i am living now in the refugee camp as a refugee.

In this refugee camp we are only allowed to go out briefly on Mondays and Fridays of the weeks, It's just like one staying in the prison but i hope by God's grace i will come out from here soon. I don't have any relatives now whom i can go to as all my relatives ran away in the middle of the war.
The only person i have now is Reverend Father Mathew Jude who is the Rev. Minister in charge of the Church built here in the camp by the United Nations, the Reverend has been very nice to me since i came here, but i am not living with him rather i live in the females quarters because the camp here has two quarters one for men the other for women.
The Reverend's tel. number is (00221-777-938-846), you can as well reach me through this his office phone, if you call just explain to him that you want to speak with Morin Godwin so that he will send for me at the females quarters in the camp, i am as well using the computer in the Reverend office here to communicate with you.
As a refugee here i don't have any right or privileged to anything be it money or whatever because it is against the law of this country. I want to go back to my studies because i only attended my first year in the university as a medical student before the tragic incident that lead to the death of my beloved parents took place.

Please listen to this, i have my late father's certificate of account and the death certificate here with me, which i will send to you later. This is because when my father was alive he deposited some amount of money in one of the leading banks in Europe which he used my name as the next of kin to the account, the amount in question is $4.7M. (Four Million Seven Hundred Thousand US Dollars). And like i told you i want to invest this money in buying some real estate properties down before i go back to pursue and complete my degree course in the university as a medical student which have always been the good wish of my late parents for me.
So i will like you to help me transfer this money from the bank to your own bank account and from it afterward you can send me some money for me to get my traveling documents and air ticket to come over to meet with you in your country. I promise to give you the 30% of the whole money as per compensation for your help after the transfer, and you will direct me in investing the rest of the money in buying some real estate properties, and in other good business ventures. I have already agreed with the bank that i will get a foreign business partner who will stand for me in receiving the fund in the account due to my refugee status here in Senegal.

I kept this secret to people in the refugee camp here with me, the only person that knows about it is the Reverend father. So in the light of above i will like you to keep it to yourself and don't tell it to anyone for i am afraid of loosing my life and the money if people gets to know about it, always remember that i am giving you all this information due-to the trust i have deposited in you to have come in contact with you in this manner for good and lucrative investment.
I like honest and understanding kind of person, a person of vision and hardworking. However i will like you to call me like i said at least for us to hear each other voices and as i still have a lot to tell you.

I will be looking forward for your positive response and concern to help me out over the transfer so that i can give you my late father's account details and the bank contact information so that you contact the bank immediately for the transfer.

I am attaching my photos for you in this mail, i just hoped you will like them even though i am not all that photogenic.

I await a news from you soonest, until then do have a nice day,
Sincerely yours
Morin

Dinner 425 Baht, 99B for Beer

2010-09-18T12:52:00.000+07:00

So Kaan appears last night and announces we are going to dinner, on Changklan Rd- on the other side of town, Thai restaurant for seafood (plah). So off we go for a half hour drive and it's good to get out and about and see what's up on a Friday night, and it's a good idea as we haven't seen each other for a week, and he's been sick and as I am working Sunday morning, it's the right night even.

So Kaan ordered a fish on this amazing BBQ which I didn't even taste... don'y know why.

And I got prawn tempura that I couldn't finish because the batter was hard as hell and the prawns were the consistency of oysters, very odd.

But I had covered myself by ordering my safety net, fried rice- this time with seafood (plah) which is not sea animals (sat nam) as they are only for looking at (according to Kaan), so you can see I am becoming quite the linguist.

Anyway, I never finished the prawn oyster tempura concept- horrible.

Kaan was very hungry and polished off his fish with enthusiasm.

And we had the 3 beers promotion- 3 long necks (750ml?) with ice for 99 baht. This promotion has been going on for 6 months at least in just about every Thai-style bar and restaurant in town. It's cheaper than buying them at the supermarket or the bottle shop (cheapest I've see is 40B each) and that's without ice and the girl in the high heels and miniskirt who puts in more ice and pours for you.

All up 425 baht plus 20b for the tip and 5b to make the elephant man go away... AUD $16 for 2.

The only annoying things were that the food (for me) was a bit disappointing, the place was so dark I coundn't see the food in my khao pat talei (talei being general seafood rather than pla which is fish), I never did see the elephant (so you really can hide an elephant in the room in Thailand) and the loud singing duo didn't know how to tune their instruments or their voices so it was hard to talk above the noise and the pain.

Apart from that it was quite good; the benches and table didn't break and the beer was cold (after putting in the ice).

I know it sounds odd, but truly, it is astounding how bad the food can be around this town.

Might be quiet tomorrow

2010-09-18T04:22:00.000+07:00

4:15 AM no need to get up tomorrow... early.

BUT

life moves on-

still need to do all the little things to make life move along

1. get g5 back to hospital cause the geeks did not fix him (15,000 wasted?)
2. pay Chiang Mai Mail for ads to let aparts and sell Lanna...
3. ignore the interest from Nigeria: please sell your condo and send us the money (really?)
4. Go to Icon and get a new keyboard for the HP netbook
5. pay the 615B insurance for Viang Ping apartments
6. move 100,000B from Oz so I have 800,000 left for the 4 months before I tell CMU to take a flying f**k at themselves and regain my retirement visa
7. Pay the phone bill

Hmmm. But if Khun Ka, my tuktuk driver, is still busy with both his wife and sister in hospital, what to do?

Oh, and invent another game to stop being bored.

Got the card reader

2010-09-15T16:25:00.001+07:00


Woke up to smoke the other day, and this was before it really got going. Oh, and yes, burning off is illegal here.

This is not smoke, just the usual afternoon rain storm that happens about half the time this rainy season, starts around 4pm and lasts either an hour or all night. You never know.

Apart from going to work this has been my most common setting recently, at the dining table with notes, texts, computer, referencing guide, etc. Surprisingly stimulating really.

This is Kaan's ex-squirrel #2 who died in the afternoon. I came home from work at CMU, chopped up some apple for him to eat and there he was, dead as a doornail. Rather sad really.


I just couldn't resist buying this little notebook. And I have decided that Thaiglish is not just bad grammar and such. Now I think it is anarchy. A bit like: Why should I give a f##k what you think is correct? This is my country. I can do what I like. And that's got to be TRUE ENOUGH!

Theme of Thailand: Sorry, broken!

2010-09-15T11:40:00.002+07:00

It is churlish of me to expect things to work for more than a few months.

But the fact is that anything with a local brand falls to pieces or malfunctions within about 11 weeks of purchase, so while you feel proud of your parsimony when you buy an electric fan for 350B (about $12 AUD), within 3 months you throw it away so go looking for a brand name.

There is no warranty here, no product liability and while those things do add to the purchase price, it is actually gratifying to realise that those laws in Australia do actually mean something.

On top of that local conditions- daily power surges for example- wreak havoc on electronics and my "power surge protectors" (Belken) that I bought when my Oz one broke obviously don't work as every time the fridge turns on the TV goes black for half a second!

Not Working
And my tuktuk driver isn't working today because his wife and sister are sick in hospital and he needs to go and take care of them. I was planning to take the G5 back to MacZone today (their repair didn't last) but now it will have to wait).

And my card reader just went kurfoottt!

But I can't really complain about that, I bought it in 2006 in Singapore and it has been VERY busy for more than 4 years... it was very hot probably from being connected to the Belken powered USB and then?

If it had been working I would have shown you the pic of Dead Squirrel #2 who passed away two days ago, probably because Kaan was feeling sick and forgot to feed it. Sad, but so it goes.

And for those following the gossip, no I haven't been back to that restaurant yet. I thought about maybe going there for lunch today and mending the bridges but I would rather buy stationery. So maybe that relationship is not a high priority.

The Good News
Yes, there is some.

Firstly, I just finished the three research assignments due in September, so my master's work is up-to-date. Now to prepare for the next one, two weeks from now.

Secondly, I got an inquiry about buying my apartments from the Thaivisa website, so I am hoping that the sale of the Lanna one will happen soon.

Thirdly, I am feeling better than I have in weeks. It has taken a long time to recover from that nasty flu I had at the beginning of term but a combination of regular swimming (almost every day) and megavitamin therapy are doing the trick.

Making Future
The pressures of life are curious things. They can be a burden that drags you down, or a stepping stone to better things.

It is now very clear to me that teaching here has a lot of drawbacks. The research I did more than two years ago was woefully out of date and failed to mention some important details. Firstly it seems that CMU might still offer full-time jobs but only if someone on staff passes away. And even then, it appears that the wages on offer are very poor. Secondly, the overall teaching scenario is a bit bleak with no opportunities to engage in interesting projects. Instead it is almost entirely a baby-sitting exercise. This is not so different from Australia but at least there are some challenging/interesting aspects back in Oz. Finally, potential incomes are absurd. If you were teaching a full 20hr a week load you would be getting about 30,000 baht a month (AUD $1,071), but not regularly so you need to cut that by around 20% ie $800/month. You can live on that here, reasonably well but you won't be saving anything.

I remember what seemed to me a very odd conversation from one of the long-term teachers in Asia, an Australian fellow, who discussed methods of sleeping in the sticky heat; cover your body in cooling powder or lie on a wet towel with the fan on you. Really? At the time I was mystified but then I realised the point. If you use your aircon each night you will have an electric bill of 3-4,000B ($90-120) per month. At 10-20% of your income, it is better to sleep in discomfort, apparently.

I turn on the aircon every night, both to sleep comfortably and so I can close my big picture window against the evening noise and the morning blaze- bugger the cost!

Anyway, my bet hedging includes keeping the CMU position despite the sweaty hot rooms and the challenging materials (in that they require a lot of imagination to make them interesting), while at the same time getting the Master of Applied Linguistics in case I need to return to Oz and work.

However, the more I look at this teaching gig the less I like it. It's just too much like treading water. And on top of that, I am spending hours every week reading about 'world's best practice' for my studies, only to realise that most of these academic writers live in a fantasy land far removed from the backward realities. But that's OK. A stepping stone doesn't have to be paradise.

And on top of that, as a loyal reader you will know about the International Event Management project, the jewel in the crown. Oddly enough, I am encouraged by the recent opening of the second local firm to offer event management, Igenise. Judging by their sign they will make for a delightful contrast.

Business can be annoying but it is also a fun game.

Analysing a Text & Writing Your Sox Orf

2010-09-12T16:34:00.004+07:00

Well what a relief!

Somehow in the maelstrom of spending every waking hour either teaching or writing about teaching for my MAppling, I got my dates mixed up. I was thinking that I needed my next assignment (2-3,00 words) handed in by tomorrow when in fact it is not till Friday... oh yeah!

BUT as the muse is upon me and I really am on a roll, and I have all the reading ready, and I have been thinking about it since late yesterday after I finished #2 in this mid-term run, and sent in #1 and #2- 5,000 words in 4 days... Can feel swell of chest in pride achievement? (A Little Thaiglish for Your Pleasure!)

So the easy part is this: I feel strangely alive, woken up. My brain function has returned and now I remember what it was like, rather enjoyable actually.

Sadly the work at XXX (censored in case of web trawlers) does not fit into this category, especially while one is investigating, analysing and writing about world's best practice in language teaching. The contrast between the theory and the reality is rather striking. Somehow working with texts that positively bloom with grammatical mistakes, errors of syntax, trains of non-sequiturs, and a rather pervasive aroma of pointlessness, makes for hard work of the mental kind and sadness of the emotional kind.

I soldier on, of course, striving to turn lead into gold, but the best the educational alchemist can aspire to here is moments of happiness and the illusions of learning...

The glimmer of the business world begins to glow with its own attractions.

The green mini-postit notes represent the big moments of the textbook which will soon make their way into a beautifully constructed piece of academic drivel.

Turn your genes on and off

2010-09-04T11:07:00.001+07:00

A new haircut reveals the genetic heritage, the thinning hair- and emphasises the eyebrows... an amalgum of mother and father... inevitable.

Meantime on Charlie Rose the brain experts discuss how genes can predispose use to violence and gods know what, but that environment can influence those genes to be expressed or turned off- that how we live really does change how our brains work.

If that is true, just what other genes are turned on and off?

Bored by Blather
My selective intolerance gene (SIG) is running hot at the moment; utterly unable to sit happily and listen to shit- or rather shit that bores the pants off me. This probably means that I am succumbing to the Retirement Dementia Syndrome: lack of stimulus and challenge is complemented by lack of short and medium term memory so that stories of the past become the sole repertoire, or stories that really don't seem to matter much at all.

I was privy the other night to a gathering of old and not-so-old gay men who talked about double glazing for about 90 minutes. I don't know what they were actually saying. I turned off after about 2.5 minutes. Other topics did intrude briefly, the presence of elephant farms in the city precincts 15 years ago, and how Richard Dawkins had proved the non-existence of God, thus establishing that all religious believers are stupid fools (or so the conversation went).

Here I did chime in, pointlessly explaining the universality of the God Belief and how it seems that most people need this comfort- even very intelligent people... This was of course dismissed.

Master of Linguistics TESOL
The SIG is in full flight for my linguistics study as I read about "innovations" in English teaching, like encouraging the students to do homework and form study groups... or how the power structure of the world is reinforced by teaching students how to succeed in the evil and short to end world of capitalism... really.

I am equally astounded to realise that the innovation I chose to analyse was terminated mid-term for no apparent reason, had no method of assessment or evaluation and provided no important change in classroom management. So why is it in the textbook? Anyway, no time to study the other examples as the assignment must get written today and tomorrow.

Teaching
Oddly enough my SIG does not apply to my students whom I continue to find interesting, challenging and delightful.

Repairs
The G5 iMac broke down again three days ago, 5 days after having it's mother board replaced for 15,000 baht (AUD $536) so it goes back today (Saturday) and my HP Netbook now has no keyboard function, another expense.

Is it the humidity? heat? or the regular power fluctuations?

Struggle on with a swim
Since walking is both difficult and sweaty as hell, swimming is my main exercise and I do notice that half an hour in the pool does a lot of wash away the stress and annoyances.

Sometimes you've just got to push ahead, no matter what.

Postscript
I am totally committed to reaching financial balance after months of outgoings- repairs, apartment maintenance and the costs of getting the work visa (approaching 30,000 baht so far). Altogether it amounts to a 100,000 baht deficit- AUD $3,571- which I reckon will take about a year to sort out.

Or 3 years if I had "lent" Kaan the 200k he wanted to "borrow" so he could buy some land, and then pay me back later, when he had borrowed the same from the bank... which he would then pay off when he sold his house, which some "Chinese really wants to buy but not right now"... I think you can see where this is going.

I said no. He kept on and on repeating the same story ad nauseam. Did he think I would crack under repetition? Or is this an example of a money-getting gene that has succeeded in getting money before? The latter I am sure.

The fact that such a loss would put me in a very bad position was of no interest at all, and my SIG was suddenly operating at full force.

Post-Postscript
I had another SIG moment last night. After a week of work, study and generally being rather busy I went to West last night. I didn't really want to; another night of hearing his long monologue of complaint was not enticing. When I arrived he shouted across the restaurant:

"Why don't you answer your fucking phone? What do you have one for? A fashion accessory?"

I said: "Yes, probably", walked out and went home. I was angry.

The simple fact is that I don't answer when he calls because I have better things to do than listen to another tale of woe, especially from someone who told me that he really wasn't interested in what I was up to... cute.

Tit for Tat, Baby!

In both cases- K and D- I can see the creative potential of some empty space. Who knows, I might actually meet some people who are interesting and not totally selfish... You never know.

Don't Panic

2010-09-01T22:44:00.000+07:00

My G5 desktop machine blew up again today. Obviously the repairs didn't take very well.

So when I get a chance it will go back to the only Mac repair shop in town... hmmmm.

This has been my most common view over the last few days as I desperately try to catch up on my master's studies... the frustrations of bad internet, buggered up computers and lots of work for CMU have put me about a month behind.

Can you see that? My 2mb broadband actually slows down to 1.5kbs sometimes. On other occasions the net just disappears for a day or two. Then the call centre tells lies of various kinds and send a man to fix the phone!

There's also been a LOT of this- torrential rain during the afternoons and often overnight- but curiously so far it hasn't poured down on me in the mornings on the way to work. But I do have to walk a different route as my usual back lane is constantly flooded!

But I am somehow weathering the storms. Views like this from my desk do help, and a regular swim each day, if I can. I find it makes a big difference- like swimming the blues away.

If I were to chronicle the failures, mishaps and stupidities you would not believe me. Basically you have to develop the expectation that anything that is more than totally simple will be fucked up. If it has two dimensions, one of them will be wrong. If it requires more than one piece of paper, one of them will be missing. If it could be done in one day, it will take three.

If you think it will be sensible, it will be absurd.

A notable example has been my chats with one of my co-ordinators at work. She would like comments and corrections in the textbook that we are using- one that was written by the Thai staff, but I can't do it. The book has so many errors and so many non-sequiturs that it would require a total overhaul. It would be impossible to interact on this level without upsetting all four authors, not to mention the horrible loss of face. So I think I'll just let that one alone.

And in the face of all this I persist with equanimity. I am even managing to put a bit of time into the design and writing of the new blog for International Event Management. Not really a blog but rather a promotional platform for the new business venture. There's no rush as it will take another year or more for the conference business to return but I am working on the foundations anyway.

It is this vision which keeps me going- either to have a successful small business here selling Thai services to overseas companies, or to meander back to Oz with my Master of Applied Linguistics and work in education back home for a while... either way will be OK.

Self-Absorbed

2010-08-24T07:04:00.000+07:00

Nothing wrong with that.. the best people do it... just a bit boring after a year or two... Luckily I know that D will never read this- too busy with his own very interesting life...

Sometimes I wish I could find food so interesting that it blocked out everything else.

But that is the way of genius- I am sure that Picasso and Peter Sellers were quite boring people...

And me too with my own obessions... oops, more than one?

So pardon me if I forgot to be so interested in you...

I am beginning it believe in astrology again as K and D do share the same star sign and are obsessively uninterested in each other.

This is my ambition- to be totally self absorbed.

Can I?

Chaophobia & Cataclysmia

2010-08-23T06:13:00.001+07:00

I am a chaophobic. I admit it. I am afraid of chaos. I want my world to have a sense of order and progress.

When my world is chaotic I become neurotic, stressed and unhappy. It is then that I realise the finely-tuned nature of the life that I aspire to, and its absurdly ambitious magic realism.

My brain, for reasons that will never be clear, is incapable of focusing on the small picture, and as I get older and my mental processes more acute, the problem is just getting worse.

I can't watch news or current affairs without constantly jumping out of the frame. If a celebrity is doing an interview my brain follows the threads to their motivations, their promotional and political agendas. I see the anomalies as they speak; the too-focused eye contact that reveals an over-rehearsed response or a mania, the string of perfectly-formed phrases that show the careful scripting, the determined presentation of monolithic concepts that brook no debate.

The hidden hands of manipulation are as obvious as the puppeteers strings.

Last post I mentioned the media's current fixations, the facile piece to camera that abbreviates all situations into precise emotions- fear of threats, horror at atrocity, shock at disaster and that intense serious that aims to add gravitas to fluff.

I forgot to mention the pussy-footing, the interviews with dictators and genodicists that politely accept the patent tripe of these psychopaths.

I recently saw an interview with Imelda Marcos where it was obvious that she lives in a world of careful self-delusion, precisely confabulated nonsense that allows her to believe that her murderous, corrupt Ferdinand was a hero and a saint. The interviewer did politely attempt to reason with her using the 'Some people would say..." trope, to which Imelda had the well-worn riposte "But they don't understand..."

In 1984 I was in the Phillipines just after Cory Aquino came to power and I was totally surprised to discover that everyone I met thought the Marcos regime had been a good thing. Only later did I see the reason; their families had been the winners under Marcos and had lost their jobs when Cory's cronies took control. The Marconistas were the new homeless.

Viva la revolutione!

I was also surprised during my travels to a very poor mountain region- mostly no utilities, bad roads, endemic poverty- to see a plaque on a gutter. Imelda had travelled here to officially open the drain, a gift from the Marcos family, 'for the benefit of the people'. It was a big day.

Earthquake disasters are another curiosity. Take a look at Haiti's wooden "Gingerbread Houses", wooden buildings that have withstood the earthquakes for centuries, unlike the cement monstrosities that collapsed on thousands recently.

It was the same in Taiwan in 1999. Earthquakes are common in both places and while I was in Taipei in 1999 I must have experienced a dozen of them, from small tremors to larger ones that shook me awake in my bed and clanged the hanging wine glasses in my kitchen like church bells.

The news never seemed to mention that the thousands who died in Taipei were mostly from the poor suburbs where corrupt builders had put up cheap and dangerous 3 storey buildings (the normal height for Taipei).

It was NOT the earthquake that killed those people. It was shoddy and stupid building techniques.

But you can't make a news story out of that: People killed by bad builders... deforestation... aid money diverted to arms purchases...

Sadly the genocides of the world won't stop if the power-hungry don't have guns- machetes and rocks are still deadly, but at least the death rate is a bit slower than with guns... probably.

A friend told me recently that he had stopped watching the news years ago, and I thought that a bit odd, a bit head-in-the-sand. But now I am going the same way.

Try this simple taste test:

1. Watch the news and then turn off the TV.
2. Do you feel uplifted? Happier?
3. Did you learn anything useful?
4. If you had not watched, would you be better or worse than you are now?

The new 24 hour news cycle, the constant pressure to be up to the minute means that the news rolls along in a facile and very strange way. Did you ever notice how the BBC and CNN run the same stories for almost all of the day, again and again?

How is it possible that nothing new happened ALL DAY in the WHOLE WORLD?

And CNN has been running the same Mocumentary about Mexicans on a train escaping to the USA for weeks... something about Stranger Danger?

The only saving grace is Charlie Rose on CNBC. He is a sycophant but at least he takes his time.

And sadly Hardtalk on the BBC is more like Hard-On Talk given the respect and balanced adulation the guests receive.

Little wonder that I ease myself into sleep not with current affairs but with a Sherlock Holmes story from a hundred years ago...

Marooned and Pole-Dancing with a Difference

2010-08-22T21:52:00.000+07:00

Where was I?
My internet supplier- who doesn't seem to know if it is TTT or BBB, or coming or going cut me off, not for forgetting to pay the bill, oh no- they cut off the whole of the north of Thailand for a couple of days...

I'm not sure how long because they sent me a technician who I thought was going to fix my connection but instead tried to fix my phone line, which was working perfectly.

Then I called them and they told me that a technician would call me back...

And then, mysteriously, it started working again...

TiT again (This is Thailand).

As for other news? Nothing more than a tidal wave of work inundating poor old me... but then again, busy is better than boring.

Oh, both my big G5 iMac and my MacBook died recently and had to be revived at the MacZone hospital, so that was rather a dent as well.

And the roof leaked twice... they say they've fixed it, again. But have they? TiT.

So I had to move all my valuable printed stuff and electronics downstairs away from the water, another trial.

Oh, and since the new building works next door the lane way that I used to take to work in the morning fills up with rain water... so that's a bugger as well!

I came across this one the net, rather amusing; Indian men, and a skinny teenager, doing a swamiesque pole dance to some rather inspirational music... why not?

Thanks for dropping by.

I promise something more original shortly.

Thailand Tourism Graph

2010-08-14T17:23:00.001+07:00

from (click on title or here for link)

James Harriman

harrimanjay@yahoo.com

@Thai_Tweet

I have put together a graph on Thailand's tourism sector using data from the Tourism Authority of Thailand. The graph shows tourist arrivals from 2004-2010 and year-on-year changes. The colors red and blue denote and highlight the seasonal trends in the sector. I have also noted major events that have had varying impacts on arrival numbers. As you can see, the tourism sector has been subjected to a number of political events in recent years which have negatively impacted arrivals and industry growth.

What comes off striking from the graph is the arrival numbers during the main high season in 2009-2010. The arrivals from November to February are the highest in years despite the fact the global economy remained in a period of uncertain recovery and only six months earlier the country experienced the political upheaval from the Songkran riots.

In all, the tourism industry displays remarkable resiliency. On the recent numbers, two caveats should be added. First, the big spike in the July number is partly seasonal, and second, the huge annual percentage jumps during the 2009-10 high season are somewhat amplified because of the unusually low base numbers from the previous year. (from James)

Another View

Charts copyright ThaiWebsites.com

Interestingly, the tourism sector does not only depend on foreign visitors. The number of domestic tourists actually dwarfs the number of foreign tourists. But domestic tourists (mostly Thais) do spend much less per day and their trips are shorter, on average two days and a half. In 2007 there were reportedly more than 83 million in-country travel trips. This created 380 billion baht in revenue.

Average daily expenditure was around 1770 baht per person in 2007 (as compared to 4120 baht per person for international tourism).

__________________________________________________________________________

From me:

After hours of searching I finally found some "meaningful" numbers for Thai inbound tourism.

But don't be fooled. It is the purpose of numbers to gild the lily.

How many of these "arrivals" are actually people in transit through Bangkok?

How many are the thousands who leave the country for a walk in Burma from Mae Sae?

And of course, how many are the thousands of expats who leave the country every two weeks to renew their visas?

I myself would be counted several times in the last 20 months, while others would be could 40 times in the same period.

None of these things are ever clarified and won't be so long as big numbers are of better value.

The true measure of the numbers here in Chiang Mai is the number of empty bars, restaurants and hotels, and even the streets where seeing a tourist is still a surprise.

It is truly very mysterious.

INTERNATIONAL EVENT MANAGEMENT

2010-08-11T15:57:00.000+07:00

WHY MAKE A NEW BLOG?

The entry door to one of my legendary Saatchi parties in Sydney

This is part of a long-term plan. While I do enjoy teaching, the time will come in just 5 years when I will be too old to work here. 60 is the required retirement age.

So it seems like a good idea to develop an exit strategy now.

Of course, at the moment the Emergency Decree remains in force in most of the country. This means that the process of recovery won't begin for a while, and given the lead times for international conferences, the conference business won't pick up till at least the end of 2011.

Still, it is a good time to get ready.

Go have a look! HERE

Words like music, like a band not a bond

2010-08-07T10:38:00.002+07:00

Exam time- a strangely punctual occasion

I was inured from an early age to speak the truth, even to the point of rudeness. This was not so good and I hope that over the years this softened with a bit of wisdom.

But it was sharpened again in the 1980s when I did 'est' and the Landmark 'Forum' in both of which there was a strong theme of 'being your word' and living up to your verbal commitments. Again, in the mania of the moment this also went too far, declarations to end world hunger and begin world peace sounding good but lasting only as vibrations.

Now, in Thailand, after a year and a half, I have finally adjusted to what speaking means in this culture.

This is the canal in the middle of my street, about 20 metres across and full- the rainy season full tilt.

Night before last I was lost on Chayaphum Rd looking for Soi 1 (a laneway). I asked some people in a shop- oh yes, go south, that way! And then I asked some people in a Burger Bar, oh yes, go south! And then, after ten minutes of walking I ran into a group of tuktuk (taxi) drivers- oh no, back that way! (north) And so I kept walking, past the shopkeepers who had advised me wrongly who were now surprisingly busy and not looking in my direction, and finally found the laneway.

Had this happened to me a year ago I would have been annoyed but now I know, most of the time local people here speak to make you a. happy b. go away and/or c. give them some money. Truth has nothing to do with it.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Means that I might see you tomorrow if nothing exciting/interesting/difficult happens and I wake up in time. (A recent survey of some 80 students revealed that NONE of them have an alarm clock.)

Me waiting for my students the morning after the exam... not so punctual!

But I am still a 'cock-eyed optimist' (from one of my Mum's favourite musicals) and when people say reassuring things about the future, I feel good and believe them. I can't help it. But now, when it fails to happen, I am not surprised.

Of course, there is the other problem- there are a few people here who do tell the truth, do arrive when they say and can actually make a commitment, so you need to work out who they are because without them you will have a very hard time indeed.

Gecko in a light-fitting, Chomdoi garden

Dengue Fever, Fear and Confession
Someone I know has caught it, a terrible disease much worse than malaria. It is caught from mosquitoes, a particular type who feed during the day.

Perhaps not surprisingly it was caught by a young woman at work who had a penchant for short dresses and those tops that hang down from a thread exposing shoulders and arms. In short, she was extremely exposed in a way that local people rarely are, due to a sense of modesty and propriety but also possibly due to a sensible caution.

I had a sense of foreboding with her and at the same time I didn't like her very much, her manner reeked of that a haughtiness and overconfidence that often comes with extreme insecurity.

And now I feel guilty because I did wish some ill would revenge my sense of personal slight, and it did.

On the other hand, this cautionary tale has led me to be more careful- bug spray and long pants during the day, that's for sure.

Especially in the rainy season but actually all year some 70,000 people come down with this, and while only a dozen or so actually die, it is a very nasty disease.

Ah, the joys of Tropical Paradise!

One day they will fix the many chairs that clog the balcony corridors, but the good thing is that they do actually fix them. That is one thing I do like about being here- they fix things whenever possible. I reckon the metal frames from these chairs have been in service for more than 20 years.

I start my Master of Applied Lingustics (TESOL) at Macquarie University
On Monday the 2nd of August the semester began, and nothing happened; no emails arrived, none of the promised study packs, nothing. I looked at the website and discovered that something had changed; suddenly there were pdf files to download, course outlines to read- better than nothing.

But here's the curious thing; this is a service supposedly specifically-designed for distance and overseas students, and will cost around $8,000 dollars, but so far I have actually received not one communication that outlines how this process will work or what we are supposed to do.

So I have decided I will just proceed as I have done with previous study; download and print all the relevant material, read and review what seems relevant, and search the Macquarie website for clues...

On the plus side, I don't have to attend lectures or tutorials; in my many years of study I have found that 85% of all classroom events delivered nothing useful and no insights that weren't already in the readings. There were exceptions; some of my drama lectures were fascinating but they were from an old professor who had ideas about education and inspiration- and there was a philosophy lecturer, and even an anthropology professor that I enjoyed... but for the most part, useless.

And here's the kicker- the most useless university educators I have experienced were the ones specialising in education!

So, for the next year you can expect a bit less creative output while I am working (part-time), managing my apartments (also part-time, and we are approaching 100% occupancy next week I hope), and studying full-time... but then, if you know me, you know I like to be busy.

Thanks for dropping by!

Shocking!

2010-08-06T00:02:00.001+07:00

I really am over it. OK so CNN can be over the top, exaggerate, go crazy with the superlatives but now you can't tell the difference between them and the BBC.

It's a shocking situation, with disastrous consequences and the native people will never recover... and there will be a truck trying to deliver aid that is mobbed, again...

And hundreds of millions of people will be surprised and devastated that there is flooding- due to rain- and deforestation after they cut down the jungle to make some cash... or as here in the north burned it so they can plant some more crops...

And oh yes, there are shocking mudslides because you cut down the trees...

And why did you build your house on the flood plain? BECAUSE it was close to water and cheap...

My house got washed away like the ones before... why?

And oh my God, my house got burned down because it was surrounded by trees!

Like the bush fires that came before, why?

Like the houses built there before? Was that what that black stuff was?

It's the rainy season, the monsoon, when people reap the rewards of stripping their hills of trees, raping their jungles and then get a surprise when it all falls down...

Shocking.

One day the media might just say-

Hey ho! You let then or helped them destroy your environment, so suck eggs!

Or what about history:

This is a flood plain- has been for hundreds of years- and you are surprised that it flooded again?

Ok, so earthquakes seem a bit different... but no, just like floods, in Taipei back in 1999 one third of the city collapsed killing thousands. Guess what?

They were all the poor people in the part of town corruptly made of rubbish- it was a disaster waiting to happen. Not the fault of the poor but the fault of the corrupt people who built the faulty homes.

Did anyone say- Hey, bad buildings killed people, so let's put the builders in gaol?

Oh no, just a wringing if hands and great news coverage.

We are now at a time in history where we know enough to be able to mitigate against almost ALL natural disasters. We can plan for earthquakes, tsunamis, droughts and floods.

We can make buildings that will stand up- all the time. We can make waterside resorts that will withstand the waves. We can conserve water and build dams. We can control the monsoon flows.

BUT we don't.

Because there are people out there who make more profit from doing less. Because profit is more important than people.

And this construct is the best we can do?

We made it up.

It is a fiction.

We are trapped in the web of a story made true by people, people who gain the most from this fallacy.

The trouble is that most people are only creative when they absolutely need to be. In the meantime they are mostly just looking for the easiest way to survive.

That is our nature and our legacy- the most common driving force of people and invention is laziness.

We want to do less and get more.

Sadly this paradigm has a simple problem built into it- our own destruction. It is a less than zero game.

But not to worry, it also has its own solution built in as well- those who are not lazy will win, and those who are lazy will sink even further into the background.

Is this political?

Who cares?

It is simply true.

I would thank God for the accident of not being a lazy person- but I don't believe in Him, so I must thank the accident of...

whatever accident lead me to be what I am...

Thank you, Thing!

Laos in Pictures

2010-08-01T12:45:00.005+07:00

This was my first flight to the northwest- notice the congested housing estate amongst the farmland, greed is universal.

Villa Sisavad, Vientiane. Aircon, bed, cable TV- all AOK but the food available in this neighbourhood is dreadful.

Thai Embassy as seen from waiting line outside.

This head is about four inches wide, hidden behind a fence, in a pile of other relics... the most interesting thing I saw in 3 hours of touring around Vientiane.

Me outside another temple. This one was 20 baht to see the outside as it was locked. At least the others let you inside for your 20B!

As you may note- not actually full of excitement...

In the Buddha Garden a half hour drive out of town, on the Mekong. This was a bit amusing- a sort of large beetroot you can walk inside and climb to the top representing hell and then heaven above... (or so Mr Lay my driver told me.)

Frankly the concrete sculptures were far from impressive and crammed into a quarter acre block - no explanation, just things.

Apart from eggs and juice breakfast at the Villa this was the only edible food in Vientiane, a sort of lemon meringue tart.

On the flight from VT to Luang Prabang, an Asian fellow dressed casually with no luggage... the most interesting thing on the trip home...

Waiting a few hours at Luang Prabang for the flight home to CM, an eccentric gentleman.

The other eccentric gentleman at LP airport waiting...

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Vientiane

Doctors protest fund for victims of malpractice

2010-07-30T11:17:00.000+07:00

So yes, I just got through to the BKKP and found this extraordinary article about doctors protesting.

I say extraordinary but it is really just par for the course. It seems that basic logic is not taught hereabouts.

The doctors are protesting because:
1. They will have to pay into the fund to compensate victims
2. It's not their fault because they are too busy to avoid "blunders"
3. Having a fund will encourage people to sue them
4. There will be less doctors as a result of professional liability.

So basically they are admitting there is a lot of malpractice- anecdotal evidence certainly supports this- and as a result there will be lots of successful claims.

Strangely, I thought the professional liability law was passed last year- the first in Thailand. So now the problem seems to be that there will actually be money available for the victims... and that is a bad thing because that money should stay in the doctor's pockets?

Ah yes, I think I understand now.

There is something eerily familiar about all this.

I am sure I heard similar arguments years ago in Australia along this theme.

In the end it was not much of an issue because it is very difficult to distinguish between an acceptable error and actual incompetence, and since only other doctors can tell the difference, it has to be very bad indeed for them to accuse one of their peers.

So really, there is nothing for the doctors to worry about; if 'blunders' are normal then they can't be malpractice.

Bangkok Post, Obscured by Advertising

2010-07-30T09:16:00.000+07:00

Most of the time when I click on the BKKpost I get these silly animations for HP and such and CANNOT get to the website, and then yesterday a message came up: Report technical issues- and then went back to the animation!

I would say This Is Thailand but I am in Laos... Give it a try and see what happens.

It's a great innovation- make sure that your readers SEE the advertising, even if they can see nothing else!!

Laos Day Two

2010-07-29T21:11:00.001+07:00

Once again, no photos till later but nothing much to show anyway; some temples, a dull concrete bridge, some ugly religious statues...

So today was step one at the embassy to get the new visa... less than 2 hrs to hand in papers and pay- after wading through the touts- 4,000 baht to get a 2,000B visa? 100B for the free application form? And a rash of photo and photocopy services... Silly.

Then I made a rash decision and hired my driver Mr Lay for a drive in his aircon car to 'see the sights'. Well, a few temples much the same as Thailand, the 'big' shopping centre that sold the usual junk with Rado watches at 3,500B and Raybans about the same... amazingly overpriced copies.

Lunch at a 'western' restaurant Khop Chai Der (Thank You in Lao) with a mediocre burger (with cabbage and mayonnaise??!), soggy very oily chips (utterly inedible) and a delightful lemon meringue tart.

Dinner was at my 2nd local eatery near the Sisavad Villa- Lao style larb which was an odd mix of meat and fat in a dull broth with sticky rice and raw vegetables: awful. Last night was roast duck with rice and much better.

And the horror is that I have another day to go... tomorrow to collect the visa and have lunch again... and NO excursions, and then back to the guest house for crack of dawn departure on Saturday. It can't come soon enough.

Frankly I will be happy to see the end of this place.

You can't blame the locals. The place is obviously struggling, though it is curious the large number of big buildings under construction; some people obviously have a lot of cash. On the other had, driving around today there seemed to be one grand boulevard and everywhere else was potholes and/or straggling congestion. Over the three hours driving about I saw not one cute restaurant or even an interesting shop... How is that possible?

Well you take a land-locked country, with two tiny airports, only one rail link from Vientiane to outside the country in Northern Thailand- NOT linked to anything else, and then you offer a very limited range of anything once you get here... basically a country that closes at 11:30pm.

On the plus side this does make for a docile population, making them the envy of many Thai politicians.

On the plus side for me, I will certainly appreciate Chiang Mai a lot more than I did before... 34 hours to go.

Luang Prabang, celebrating the absence!

2010-07-28T23:01:00.004+07:00

It’s interesting, in the departure lounge, the city seal: Smoke Free- Luang Prabang. Smoke free? How can that be the prime selling point for a World Heritage city?

Why not: Everything closes at 11:30pm, the Quiet City!

All the noise actually comes from the 15 American girls- yes, I did count them. I am guessing late teens/early twenties who are making more noise than I heard a group make since my return to Oz 2 months ago. Thais are not loud as a rule but Australians are and Americans really are. Is it because they are in a rush to be heard and so need to talk over everyone else?

10 minutes now and they are getting louder and louder… and another 25 minutes before take off. My god I am worried…

Meantime the other 15 or so people sit here quietly awaiting departure… suffering.

So loud you can’t hear the announcements on the PA system. The plane might leave and we will never know.

To break the monotony there is also a young American man who also has the ability to project his voice to an amazing level.

From a therapist point of view maybe all that noise has made them all deaf, so they have no idea how loud they are… and this from me, the original Mr Foghorn.

Oh dear, now I really hope I am not as Bad as this. God that would be awful.

I am also wondering- why would such a group of young American girls be on their way to Vientiane. I was thinking missionaries but some of them have an unmistakable Jewish profile and classic New York accents… Jewish missionaries?

Or are they part of that ubiquitous tribe ‘the Do-Gooders’? You find them frequently in Chiang Mai, usually on a songthaew (red bus) on their way to or from their work with the Hilltribes, the Burmese refugees and the local dog population. I kid you not, there is a rash of organizations caring for, distributing, sterilizing and just generally doing things for the local dogs… don’t ask me why. And what about the cats and the rats? These two are ignored though in fact there are not enough of the former and far too many of the latter. It's not hard to work out why; people leave food out all over the place- on their spirit houses, on trees and little alters all over town. Night time is a rat's feast.

The fact that the many groups at work seem to have had little effect makes no difference. The fact that most of these dispossessed people could apply for ID cards and citizenship is also mostly overlooked. One might also mention that many of these badly-done-by’s do actually work and often get windfalls from a passing farang interest that shortly become large parties and occasionally small houses…

I am also reckoning that the ongoing proliferation of new bars and restaurants- at a time when business is terrible and many places are closing- and their closure within weeks or months, is probably also a symptom of this windfall mentality.

5:17 and another plane just landed. I do hope they remember to put my bag on the next plane. This one is mostly Asian people including what I am sure is a gay Japanese couple, the shorter one in a pork-pie hat waving his hands around like a drunk flamingo… 10 minutes to take off.

I have to say I am not keen on visiting military dictatorships or whatever this place is… a communist dictatorship? But then I have never heard who the despot is, so maybe it is a committeeship? I really don’t know.

Travelling mesmerizes me into total nosiness. That American boy in the pink T-shirt and the many bits of temple cotton on his wrists, surely no more than 18- has an Asian companion who has said almost nothing, just plays with some electronic device and smiles… a new boyfriend recently acquired? A BF from America taking his farang BF home to meet the parents?

None of my business of course, but I can’t help wondering.

The noise changed; now the American guy is louder than anyone as he gives advice across the room. Gripping stuff: “I really don’t know. You’ll have to check that out for yourself.”

4 minutes to take off… will they EVER let us on the plane?

There’s also a ‘mature’ couple (40’s I guess) with three Asian kids- adopted children? A boy (13) and two girls (8 & 11). It is mystifying and the kids are so brown and all playing with little Playstation things… Dad is reading an iPad, Mum has a bright red thing with a stylus… the whole family is totally electronic and ignoring each other completely… amazing!

I am also wondering who advises these girl groups- so many of them wear very short shorts, something good girls don’t do… let alone exposed shoulders…

Ah well, never mind.

2 minutes to take off?

And the door is open!

____________________

As it happened I got to sit with Matthieu an amusing 28yo Lao guy who was born in Paris and recently returned to seek his fortune here... made the short plane trip amusing- and he's an Asian guy of 185cms! Learned Lao language in Paris... and so on.

Getting a taxi was easy - they knew the Villa Sisavad straight away- and Mr Yai the driver will collect me at 8am and take me to Thai immigration.

I spied the USA Girls Group (with what I am sure are attendant gay boys) at Vientiene; they all had these oval tags-something like

World Adventure- Share the Joy!

Could this be some weird Christian thing?

Anyway, my guesthouse is OK. Mr Get the receptionist speaks a bit of Thai and English (but no French), there's beer in the fridge, soap and towel in the bathroom, and the pool looks OK but it's night time now...

AND they will be serving breakfast in the morning.

No smoking in the room of course, but there's a little terrace outside so that's OK.

My only complaint (apart from there being no bars around here and the local roadside diners are worse rat holes than in Chiang Mai) is that the bathroom keeps making ghostly sounds and the exhaust fan rattles...

Oh, and while they do put beer in the fridge there's only one bottle opener and Mr Get isn't sure where it is and the lighting in reception is so dim he had to search all the drawers by feel! Luckily his sense of touch is well-developed.

22:51 and I am watching my 3rd Sex and the City for the night. while drinking a 600 baht/bot Penfolds Merlot (Australian wine I bought in Duty Free Chiang Mai)... ah the joys of Asian culture!

Anyway it doesn't matter. I am here to get a new visa and if I can squeeze in some extra fun, that's a bonus.

One begins to feel that maybe Laos is what Thailand would be if you take away the bars and the sex trade... temples and ???

----------

Apologies

Silly me- brought the HP netbook not the Macbook so I can't upload any pictures because I can't process my shots!

Sorry. Please wait till I get back home for photos.

11:25pm a movie - Wesley Snipes and a young Robert Downey Jr as a sexy gay HIV+ dancer- and cute... hell knows what it's called... 10 years ago? Another cigarette, another glass of wine and sleep... up at 7!

Laos Airways: Kafka's Friends

2010-07-28T11:42:00.000+07:00

Was Kafka French? So you can book online but then the website asks you to pay by Paypal and then they will confirm if you have a ticket or not... Interesting system but as this little brown duck has been suckered by online services before there was NO WAY I was going to pay that way.

So I sent them an email asking them to hold the ticket for me at the airport and I got a return mail that told me that, even if I had paid, the ticket would not have been there as they need 2 days to process an online booking- really!

And so I went to the airport yesterday to buy my ticket in person. Got there at 12:30 for the 3pm flight. So where is the Lao Airways ticket counter?

I asked a lovely security lady (an actual woman) the ones with the metal detecting wands... over there! she gestured and off I went... arriving at almost the other end of the airport, I found an 'Information' window. I asked again. Smiling, the information expert waved me back whence I had come.

"No, not there. I looked already."
"See Asian Airlines"
"Oh, OK."

So back I go. There is no Asian Airlines but there is Asia.com so try that. Wait in line for 20 minutes while other people walk away confused and then me. Oh no, not here, upstairs!

So up I go and look around. Down a corridor (behind a sign that says Beware of the Tiger) I found a little smoked glass door with Lao Airways on it and in I went. Well, in this little room there were half a dozen young ladies of the air holding walkie talkies and looking at Facebook together... hmmm.

"Ah no, no here. Go downstairs and ask at World Ticket Office!"

So down we go. Wait in line again.

Finally this girl had some idea.

"No sorry. All flights to Lao full. Cannot on Lao Air, maybe Bangkok Air... (wait a few minutes) No, sorry, cannot. Bangkok Air booked full today to Bangkok. Come back tomorrow."

Ah, so what the Lao Air guys meant was that you 'can' buy your ticket, if there is one- not that your reservation had any meaning. Ahah!

Anyway, so I spent the 11,970 baht and got my ticket and now, today, 24 hrs later, I will be on Lao Air to Luang Prabang and then Vientiane, leaving CM at 3pm and getting there in a couple of hours.

It took more than half an hour to actually get to the right counter (and Chiang Mai Airport is NOT big), so maybe they sold it while I was trying to find it!
________________________

I don't believe in entrails and augurs so I am not thinking that the trip is cursed. It is just the usual rubbish to trying to get by in Asia where saying 'I don't know' is out of the question...

Meantime Khun Thong, mein host at the guest house (pool, TV, aircon) and I have exchanged several emails- no the pickup from the airport not possible (despite what it said on the website), yes the room is available, how many nights?

So while the exchange often seems odd, it is prompt and given that this fellow spent 25 years in France before being the landlord, English would be his 3rd language and he is doing fine.

So, now all I can hope for is that the embassy in Vientiane is open and two days will be enough to process my papers... or I might be with Mr Thong till Tuesday!

Ah, the joys of Asian life!